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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Frank Warren, co-promoter for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, confirmed that his boxer's upcoming clash with Francis Ngannou will not be sanctioned as a world title fight.
It was officially announced on Tuesday that Fury would collide with Ngannou, a former UFC heavyweight champion, on October 28th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The bout will be contested under traditional boxing rules.
Ngannou is ineligible to be sanctioned for a world title fight because he's never had a professional boxing match.
“There won’t be any belts on the line because the guy is not ranked, but we’re not selling it as that, it’s an event,” Warren said to Talk Sport.
“We’re not saying he’s in the ratings and he won’t be in the ratings, it is what it is. It’s a crossover event between two guys from two different disciplines.”
Warren was unable to confirm the number of rounds, but there will be judges and the rounds will be three minutes long. Warren was also unsure if Fury's undefeated record would be at stake.
In 2017, Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement to face UFC superstar Conor McGregor in a cross-sport boxing match at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The highly lucrative bout was fought under boxing rules and Mayweather's perfect record was at stake. He stopped McGregor in ten rounds.
In the last few months, Fury was unable to secure fights with Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, Zhilei Zhang and Andy Ruiz.
And that's what led them to Ngannou, explains Warren.
“These are two guys who are the best in their relative sports, that is what they are. One is the champion of UFC, he has the Guinness World Record as the hardest-ever puncher and he is with Tyson," Warren said.
“Let me tell you, why did we make the fight? Because we tried to make the fight with Usyk, we tried to make the fight with Joshua and neither of them wanted to know. Who else is out there? First of all, this whole division was stagnant, stagnant. Everybody was waiting for a big show in December.
“We were told, a couple of weeks ago, that this is being pushed back to the autumn of 2024. So what are supposed to do? Sit around waiting? They said nothing could be done in Saudi, well something is being done in Saudi.”
