David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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The WBC welterweight title elimination bout between Souleymane Cissokho and Egis Kavaliauskas will take place on May 10 at the Centro de Conferencias de Sipopo in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, according to Boxium Promotions.
The fight was initially scheduled for December 7. However, the event was canceled in late November when Cissokho suffered a broken hand in sparring. A few weeks ago, the WBC listed the fight date as May 3. Instead, Cissokho-Kavaliauskas will be one week later.
Cissokho was previously ranked No. 1 by the WBC at welterweight but was recently supplanted by Devin Haney. Kavaliauskas is in the No. 5 slot.
Supposedly the winner of Cissokho-Kavaliauskas would move into the top spot.
Cissokho, 17-0 (9 KOs), is a 33-year-old born in Senegal and living in France. He has not fought since November 2023, when he won a unanimous decision over the 16-1 Isaias Lucero.
Kavaliauskas, 24-2-1 (19 KOs), is a 36-year-old from Lithuania who now lives in California. He also hasn’t fought since 2023, when he took out the 14-12-2 Jose Marruffo in three rounds. The 36-year-old’s record includes a TKO6 win over David Avanesyan in 2018, a draw with Ray Robinson in 2019, a ninth-round TKO loss to Terence Crawford in a welterweight title fight in 2019, and an eighth-round TKO loss to Vergil Ortiz Jnr in 2021.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
