David Benavidez will likely need to fight again to stay ready while he waits for his opportunity to fight the winner of the October 12th clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Benavidez’s Long Wait for the Big Payday
It’s still too early to know if the Beterbiev-Bivol fight will occur on that date because there’s already been one injury-related postponement, and there are still two months to go before October.
One of them could get injured in camp. Also, there’s a possibility of a rematch, which could take ages to play out due to the potential for injuries.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) has fought just once at light heavyweight, beating former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th by a lackluster 12-round unanimous decision fight in which he gassed after six rounds.
The victory earned Benavidez the WBC interim 175-lb title and made him the mandatory for Beterbiev’s title with that organization. However, Benavidez looked weak in the fight and had nothing left after six rounds. It appeared to be a draw, but the Nevada judges gave Benavidez a wide twelve-round decision.
Potential Opponents
It’s essential that Benavidez not just sit for a year, waiting for the payday fight against the Beterbiev-Bivol fight, and instead focus on getting more experience at 175 against one or two of these fighters:
– David Morrell
– Osleys Iglesias: *168-pounder
– Joshua Buatsi
– Willy Hutchinson
– Anthony Yarde
– Ben Whittaker
– Callum Smith
“Getting to this fight is tough if this [October 12th] is actually going to be the date, and then whoever wins the [Beterbiev vs. Bivol] fight, how soon are they going to return?” said Chris Algieri to the Probox TV YouTube channel about whether David Benavidez will get a chance to fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bigol clash on October 12th.
Benavidez should have already been planning for a fight rather than sitting since his win in June. He and his management had to know that Bivol and Beterbiev are aging fighters, and the chance of one more getting injured would be high.
“Benavidez may have the inside track for the winner of that fight if there’s not a rematch, this could go on a lot longer,” said Malignaggi. “I think he [Benavidez] should stay active in the light heavyweight division, which is a very deep division with a lot of talented guys in there.”
Financial Incentives
It doesn’t matter if Benavidez has the inside track. There are still a lot of unknowns involved with the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight, such as injury delays and a rematch. It’s almost a given that there will be a second fight between them.
Benavidez looked so bad against Gvozdyk, showing that his power and stamina weren’t the same, that he should have already set up a fight. Willy Hutchinson would be a good option for Benavidez to stay busy, and if not him, Morrell or Osleys Iglesias.
“[Joshua] Buatsi is fighting [Willy] Hutchinson. He fought Craig Richards [on June 1st in Riyadh and won a twelve-round decision],” said Malignaggi. “He [Hutchinson] was very impressive to me. I’d never seen him before. There’s a lot of talented guys that could tangle with Benavidez waiting for the winner of the fight between Beterbiev and Bivol to be sorted out.”
It’s questionable whether Benavidez would want to fight any of those fighters. Benavidez is already locked in for the payday against the Beterbiev-Bivol winner, and there’s a lot of money to be made fighting whoever emerges from that fight as the victor.
“If Bivol and Beterbiev are going to fight, you figure that Benavidez is going to fight again before he fights the winner,” said Paulie Malignaggi. “I’d like to see Benavidez fight at light heavyweight again just to get a gauge to see where he’s at.”
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