By Steve Kim
On Monday morning at the Rock in Carson, California, rising super middleweight contender David Benavides was getting in some sparring. It's clear that this 20-year old is going places and will soon be in the title mix at 168 pounds.
"You can see he's really disciplined, he's working really hard and he's advancing little by little and everything looks great," said his father/trainer, Jose Benavides Sr. who when asked what was next for his son, told BoxingScene.com:
"We have the opportunity to fight on April 29th for the WBC eliminator and hopefully he does good and he'll be fighting for the world title for the WBC. So he's really focused, really dedicated."
Currently the WBC super middleweight title is vacant with Badou Jack deciding to move up to light heavyweight after his disputed draw against Lucien Bute on January 14th.
Now the top two contenders, Callum Smith of the UK and Anthony Dirrell of the United States, are slated to fight for the vacant belt
As for who Benavides (17-0, 16 KO's) would take on in the WBC eliminator, his promoter Sampson Lewkowicz said - "We don't know yet. It's up to the WBC but definitely we'll have an elimination bout."
Lewkowicz notes that the number three rated contender in the WBC is Avni Yildirim of Turkey. Before this potential match-up is made, he added:
"We need to wait for the world title [to get filled], to close it up."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.