David Benavidez is still insisting that he’ll knock out WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol after he moves up to 175 soon. Boxing fans aren’t taking Benavidez seriously with his talk of beating Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) because he’s viewed by many of them as another Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, and lacks the boxing ability to defeat a fighter like him.
For the time being, Benevidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is staying put at 168 to try and become unified champion and land a lucrative payday fight against Canelo Alvarez.
It’s unknown whether undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo will fight Benavidez. If he chooses not to, he’ll need to vacate his WBC title soon because the World Boxing Council can’t afford to keep delaying Benavidez’s title shot.
It’s already been two years since Benavidez became mandatory for Canelo’s WBC belt, and it’s becoming a joke that the sanctioning body hasn’t ordered the fight.
Next month, WBC 168-lb interim champion Benavidez faces Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) on March 25th on Showtime PPV at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The winner will be knocking on the door of Canelo Alvarez to get a title shot, but again, it’s going to require the WBC to enforce their rules for the Plant-Benavidez winner to get a shot at Alvarez’s belt.
“I definitely want to go up to 175. I know I can win a belt at 175, because of the sparring,” said David Benavidez to Fight Hub TV. “I know a lot of people saw the video of me saying I’d knock Bivol out. I mean, I would. I’m not going to lie.
“Every professional boxer at this level should have that much confidence in themselves. I’m not lying about anything. I sparred him at Churchill Boxing. There were a lot of people there. They seen what happened there.
“I’m not going to lie to nobody. If people think I’m lying, ask the people at Churchill Boxing to bring up the footage, and we’ll see what’s up. I’m not lying to nobody. I know what I can do when I say I can go up to 175 and challenge and win the belts at 175.
“As a fighter, you’ve got to have that confidence in yourself and belief in yourself. If you don’t have belief in yourself, you’re not going to do nothing in life.
“I think it’s definitely possible, but right now, my sights are 168. I want to be unified champion at 168 and go up to 175, and it definitely could be a possibility at cruiserweight and then we’ll see from there.
“I don’t know. I’m not going to say no because I’ve been heavyweight before, so we’ll see what happens,” said Benavidez when asked if he can one day move up to heavyweight.
“I’ve got my sights set on 168 right now, and then in the future 175, and then after that, hopefully, cruiserweight,” said Benavidez.