David Benavidez says he wants to face Demetrius Andrade next after he first takes on former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux in a WBC 168-title eliminator.
Benavidez and Demetrius have been in the same boat for much of their careers, ignored by bigger name fighters Canelo Alvarez, Gennadiy Golovkin, and the Charlo brothers.
If the fight with Andrade happens for Benavidez in 2022, the two will be fighting in a title eliminator to decide the WBC/WBO mandatory to Canelo Alvarez.
So if Canelo chooses to swerve the Benavidez vs. Andrade winner, he’ll need to vacate two of his titles rather than just one.
Andrade, 33, is moving up to super middleweight to improve his chances of getting big fights, as he’s had no luck in getting the bigger names to face him at 160.
Demetrius’ promoter Eddie Hearn is planning on matching him against #1 WBO Zach Parker next for the interim 168-lb title.
It won’t make the winner of the Andrade-Parker fight mandatory for WBO super middleweight champion Canelo. It’ll just make them the interim champion, but that’s where Benavidez comes in. Andrade and Benavidez will battle for the mandatory spot.
“He’s a great fighter. Why not make it happen? I’m tired of talking s*** back and forth with fighters that don’t want to fight,” said David Benavidez to the media about wanting to face Demetrius Andrade in 2022 when he moves up to 168.
Assuming Demetrius agrees to the idea of fighting Benavidez, the two will still need to win their next fights before they can face each other. Benavidez has the always tough 33-year-old Lemieux that he’s facing in April for the interim WBC super middleweight title.
With Canelo possibly going up to 175 in his next fight to challenge WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, he may choose to vacate his WBC title rather than go through the trouble of returning to the weight class to take on Benavidez.
Beating Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) won’t result in Benavidez, 25, getting a title shot against WBC super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez because the Mexican star could be facing Dmitry Bivol in May and Gennadiy Golovkin in September.
Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) says he expected Jermall Charlo to face Caleb Plant this year, so he’d like to get a big fight of his own against Andrade (31-0,19 KOs).
The former IBF 168-lb champion Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) said on social media that he wants to face Charlo. Plant got a taste of the big money in his recent fight against Canelo last November, and he likely wants to get another massive payday.