David Benavidez should be forced to face WBA ‘ordinary’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell next, with the winner to challenge either of the undisputed 175lb championship bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol from their October 12th contest in Riyadh.
Ideally, Benavidez should face Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) next, with the winner challenging the Bivol-Beterbiev winner for the grand prize of the four belts. Benavidez will not willingly jeopardize his now-guaranteed title shot by fighting the talented Cuban David Morrell and possibly losing the fight.
Turki Alalshikh: The Key Persuader
Benavidez will get a ton of money to fight for the undisputed light heavyweight championship against Artur Beterbiev or Bivol. Still, if His Excellency Turki Alalshikh could convince Benavidez that it would be in his best interest to confront Morrell first, he would do so.
Only Turki can persuade Benavidez to fight Morrell because there is no chance he will volunteer to knock him out in a semi-final. He wouldn’t do it if there was a mountain of money he could get against the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol fight.
The WBC made it too easy for Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) to line himself up to face the Bivol-Beterbiev winner by taking the 37-year-old past prime Oleksandr Usyk to approve for the 175-lb interim title earlier this year on June 15 in Las Vegas.
It wasn’t to be for the interim WBC light heavyweight title, as Benavidez made his debut at 175 against an older fighter, Gvozdyk, who only recently came out of a four-year retirement from the sport as of 2019 . until 2023.
Benavidez’s Lackluster Performance
The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez looked absolutely awful against Gvozdyk, ran out of gas after six rounds and took heavy shots from rounds seven to twelve in a fight last June that many boxing fans felt was a twelve-round draw at the MGM got Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The judges in Nevada gave Benavidez a wide decision, but the fans saw what happened. Benavidez looked terrible and was fought to a standstill by Gvozdyk.
That performance by Benavidez was not good enough for him to go to the next level to challenge for the undisputed championship against Beterbiev or Bivol. The way Benavidez fought, he would lose to at least six contenders in the 175-lb division and would be no match for the winner or loser of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight not.
