Jose Benavidez Sr. tried to put a positive spin on his son David’s undercard status on the Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin card on June 22nd, calling it “an honor.”
Some fans would believe that spin-job by Jose Sr. if Benavidez’s last fight against Demetrius Andrade had brought in good PPV numbers last November.
Benavidez on Undercard = Not a PPV Attraction
That wasn’t the case, unfortunately. The event brought in only 60,000 buys, and those are disastrous numbers for anybody, particularly someone who has been calling out Canelo Alvarez 24/7 for years.
Benavidez’s placement on the Tank vs. Martin undercard on Amazon Prime PPV is worrisome, as it indicates that he’s not a big enough draw to headline a card on his own.
The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) will be fighting Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim light heavyweight title to become the mandatory IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev.
He’s facing WBA champ Dmitry Bivol on June 1st for the undisputed championship at 175.
Benavidez is trying to go straight to the top to worm his way in by beating just one fighter, Gvozdyk, which probably doesn’t sit right with the contenders in the WBC’s rankings at 175.
Undercard Placement Raises Questions
“A lot of people are surprised that David is the co-main event in fighting on the undercard of Tank. It’s an honor for us,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. to Fighthype about his son David Benavidez fighting on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin on June 22nd.
Jose Sr. can spin it any way he wants, but this is a clear demotion for Benavidez being put on an undercard, and the timing suggests that he can’t be counted on to headline a PPV card.
When a fighter draws only 60K PPV buys, they generally don’t remain on pay-per-view cards as headliners. The only reason Devin Haney is still on PPV after his 50K buys against Regis Prograis is because he’s fighting Ryan Garcia, a popular fighter with 11 million Instagram followers.
“It’s great. We’re super excited. The fans that want to see David are going to come to see David,” said Jose Sr. “The ones that want to see Tank, are going to come see Tank. They’re going to have two guys they want to see, so it’s great card.
“Are next fight is going to be at 175, fighting for the interim title, the WBC belt. Hopefiully, we get an opportunity to fight Beterbiev or Bivol. That’s another fight that we love. It’s a dangerous fight, but we’re here for challenges.
“We’re here to prove ourselves. People love David. They want to see the best against the best. I believe that will be another great fight.
Roadblocks and Weight Changes
“If Canelo decides to fight David, we’ll come back to 168. If they take that belt [WBC super middleweight] away, we’ll come back and fight for the belt. But we can’t be waiting. I hope all the sanctioning bodies are fair and do the right thing.
“We’re moving because Canelo has all the belts hostage. There’s nothing we can do that [at 168],” said Benavidez Sr.
