David Benavidez’s path toward the showdown he wants with Canelo Alvarez became clearer Thursday.

The WBC announced on social media that it has ordered a bout between Benavidez and David Lemieux for its interim super middleweight title. The winner between Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) and Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) will move into position to challenge Alvarez for the legitimate WBC belt in his subsequent bout.

BoxingScene.com has learned that a deal has already been finalized for Benevidez-Lemieux. Showtime is expected to televise their 12-rounder at some point in April or May.

The 24-year-old Benavidez had hoped to battle Alvarez next, but his handlers moved in this direction once it was obvious Alvarez would not fight him when the Mexican superstar returns to the ring early in May. Eddy Reynoso, Alvarez’s trainer and manager, and Alvarez himself have publicly expressed interest in moving up to cruiserweight to box WBC champ Ilunga Makabu in a fight that would afford Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) an opportunity to become a five-division champion.

The 34-year-old Makabu (28-2, 25 KOs), a hard-hitting southpaw from The Democratic Republic of The Congo, must first get through a mandated defense of his WBC belt against South African southpaw Thabiso Mchunu (23-5, 13 KOs). Their 12-round rematch is tentatively set for January 29 at Packard Music Hall in Warren, Ohio.

Alvarez also is believed to be interested in facing WBC middleweight champ Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) in a super middleweight bout and WBA light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol (19-0, 11 KOs).

Regardless, Benavidez will next meet Montreal’s Lemieux, a former IBF middleweight champ who hasn’t fared as well since he moved up eight pounds to the super middleweight limit.

Ukraine’s Maksym Bursak (37-6-2, 16 KOs) dropped Lemieux once apiece in the first and fifth rounds of Lemieux’s super middleweight debut in December 2019. Lemieux came back to knock Bursak to the canvas in the sixth round and won a 10-round split decision.

Lemieux has since knocked out Francy Ntetu (17-4, 4 KOs) in the fifth round and David Zegarra (34-6, 21 KOs) in the second round.

Benavidez is the WBC’s number one-ranked contender in the super middleweight division. The WBC lists Lemieux second in its 168-pound ratings.

Phoenix’s Benavidez stopped a game Kyrone Davis (16-3-1, 6 KOs) in the seventh round of his most recent fight, which Showtime televised November 13 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.

If Benavidez beats Lemieux, he will own at least some version of the WBC’s super middleweight title for the third time. He lost the real WBC belt twice without losing a fight – first for testing positive for cocaine in August 2018 and again for coming in nearly three pounds overweight for a technical knockout of Colombia’s Alexis Angulo (27-2, 23 KOs) in August 2020.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.