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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By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Deontay Wilder’s handlers aren’t convinced that London’s Wembley Stadium is the right site for a Wilder-Anthony Joshua heavyweight title unification fight.
Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has repeatedly stated that Joshua-Wilder should take place there. Joshua’s career-defining stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko on April 29 drew an enormous capacity crowd of roughly 90,000 to Wembley Stadium, approximately 79,000 more fans than attended Wilder’s first-round knockout of Bermane Stiverne on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York (10,924).
“What you do see on TV is more people, but not necessarily more dollars,” Shelly Finkel, Wilder’s manager, said during the post-fight press conference early Sunday morning. “When you go to Vegas, if they want this fight, they can put up more [money] than anywhere.”
As long as he is paid appropriately, Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs), of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is willing to travel to England to secure his showdown with Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), the fight Wilder wants most. Wilder would prefer, of course, to make England’s Joshua travel to the United States to determine the heavyweight champion.
“And this is called prizefighting,” said Lou DiBella, who regularly promotes Wilder’s fights. “So the fight should happen where the biggest prize is.”
A Joshua-Wilder heavyweight title unification fight is not expected to be next for either fighter, but Wilder wants it as soon as possible.
“I’ll go anywhere,” Wilder said. “Like I say, my title says the heavyweight champion of the world. And with that being said, I’ll travel anywhere. Anywhere. To be a champion, I feel that you can’t just fight in your country. You can’t just stay temporarily where you are. Or I wouldn’t say temporarily. What he’s trying to do is to stay permanent in the UK, with the things they got going on. That looks good and all that, and stuff like that. But the Mecca and the money will always be in America. Always. Always.”
Hearn visited Las Vegas late in the summer to discuss bringing a Joshua-Klitschko rematch to T-Mobile Arena on November 11.
Klitschko decided to retire, though, thus Joshua made a mandatory defense of his IBF title against Cameroon’s Carlos Takam on October 28 in Cardiff, Wales. That fight, which Joshua won by 10th-round technical knockout, helped draw a capacity crowd of roughly 78,000 to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
Joshua, 28, has fought only in England, Wales and Scotland since he turned pro four years ago. Wilder, 32, has fought in Sheffield, England, Cancun, Mexico (twice) and Bayamon, Puerto Rico, since he made his pro debut nine years ago.
“I’ll travel anywhere,” Wilder said. “All I want to do, like I said, is don’t wait, make the date, and Deontay Wilder will be there.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
