David Benavidez will proceed to forge his personal path.
The Ring has discovered that plans are in place for the unbeaten former two-time WBC tremendous middleweight titlist to subsequent face Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk, in a struggle that may carry the interim WBC gentle heavyweight title.
Benavidez, ranked No. 1 at 168 by The Ring, would transfer up in weight as a contingency plan within the occasion he doesn’t land his dream project—a showdown with undisputed tremendous middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Very proud to announce a sensational struggle which the @WBCBoxing has accepted to sanction for the interim Lightheavyweight championship Benavidez vs Gvozdyk . Want the most effective of luck for each champions @Benavidez300 vs @AlexandrGvozdyk @TGBpromotions @premierboxing
— Mauricio Sulaiman (@wbcmoro) February 22, 2024
Benavidez-Gvozdyk would seemingly happen in June as a part of the newly fashioned Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Amazon Prime sequence. Sanctioning of the struggle was confirmed by WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.
“Very proud to announce a sensational struggle which the @WBCBoxing [twitter.com] has accepted to sanction for the interim gentle heavyweight championship Benavidez vs Gvozdyk,” Sulaiman acknowledged in a put up on X (previously Twitter). “Want the most effective of luck for each champions.”
The idea behind a struggle versus Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 knockouts)—a former Ring and WBC 175-pound champion—can be for Benavidez to change into the necessary challenger in two divisions. The plan to have an interim title at stake comes as Ring/WBC/IBF/WBO gentle heavyweight king Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs) is because of subsequent face WBA 175-pound titlist Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KOs) for the undisputed championship on June 1 in Saudi Arabia.
Equally, Gvozdyk would transfer again into the WBC necessary place at 175 with a win.
Representatives from Benavidez’s camp and PBC didn’t instantly return messages from The Ring looking for remark or affirmation. Nevertheless, it was discovered {that a} reported 60,000,000 provide has been made for Alvarez to subsequent face Benavidez, the present interim WBC 168-pound titlist and necessary challenger to the complete model of the belt.
Guadalajara’s Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs) has but to determine—or a minimum of announce—his subsequent opponent for a deliberate Might 4 Pay-Per-View headliner in Las Vegas. The four-division champion and present Ring 168-pound champion beforehand teased the date and site in an interview with TV Azteca—the Mexico community dwelling for all of his fights—however didn’t specify the challenger.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), 27, is among the many few high names not talked about as potential candidates to land the project. Two-division and present WBC middleweight beltholder Jermall Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) and Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs)—ranked No. 5 at 168 by Ring—stays the 2 most oft-mentioned fighters to subsequent face Alvarez, as confirmed in a breaking information story by ESPN Knockout’s Salvador ‘Chava’ Rodriguez.
Gvozdyk’s lone profession defeat got here on the heavy fingers of Beterbiev, who knocked him out within the tenth spherical of their October 2019 Ring/WBC/IBF unification bout in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist retired after the setback however since resurfaced final yr and has gained three straight.
The final of the batch got here in a second-round knockout of Isaac Rodriguez final September 30 on the undercard of the Alvarez-Jermell Charlo Showtime PPV occasion from T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas. The struggle was the primary on a PBC platform for Gvozdyk, who now fights underneath that umbrella.
Benavidez beforehand held the complete model of the WBC title from Sept. 2017-Sept. 2018 and once more from Sept. 2019-Aug. 2020.
Each reigns ended exterior the ring, however he has since established himself as the highest tremendous middleweight contender.
Benavidez—who lives and trains within the better Seattle space—gained the interim WBC 168-pound title in a Might 2022 third-round knockout of David Lemieux in Glendale, Arizona, simply exterior his Phoenix childhood hometown.
Two defenses adopted, each going down in 2023 in Las Vegas. Benavidez earned a 12-round, unanimous resolution win over former IBF titlist and No. 3 Ring contender Caleb Plant on March 25 at MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment. He then scored a sixth-round knockout of former two-division beltholder Demetrius Andrade on November 25 at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Enviornment.
Jake Donovan is the most recent member of The Ring household. X (previously Twitter): @JakeNDaBox
