David Benavidez plans to fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight in Cinco de Mayo on May 3rd, 2025, in Las Vegas.
Benavidez Targeting Canelo’s Traditional Date
“The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) fighting on the Cinco de Mayo date early next year would affect Canelo Alvarez, who usually fights on that holiday yearly. A fight between the highly popular Benavidez and the Bivol-Bivol winner would be huge in Las Vegas.
Sampson Lewkowicz, the promoter for the former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez, told Boxingscene that they plan on fighting on Cinco de Mayo next year.
That would be a massive fight that would bring in a lot of PPV buys and fill whatever venue they choose. Canelo would have to either give up the date to Benavidez or choose a popular fighter like Terence Crawford to force him to give up on taking his Cinco de Mayo date.
It would be the ultimate revenge for Benavidez if he were to take Canelo’s Cinco de Mayo date because he’s not happy with Alvarez for being avoided all these years and ignoring his attempts to get a fight.
The final straw was on Tuesday when it was reported that Canelo is finalizing a deal to defend his unified super middleweight titles against Edgar Berlanga, his WBA mandatory, on September 14th on the Mexican Independence Day holiday weekend at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Berlanga only recently became Canelo’s WBA mandatory Challenger last February, beating an obscure contender that few fans had ever heard of. In contrast, Benavidez had been Canelo’s WBC mandatory for two solid years since 2022, waiting all this time and still not being allowed to fight for the title.
Yesterday, Benavidez gave up on his attempts to fight Canelo by staying at light heavyweight, where he holds the WBC interim 175-lb title and is mandatory to the Beterbiev vs. Bivol, winner of their October 12th fight.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman revealed that he’d been contacted by Benavidez’s promoter, Lewkowicz, who informed him of their intention to stay at 175 and give up the WBC 168-lb mandatory and interim title they held in that weight class.
Benavidez will fight next in December against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. It’s believed that the fight will be at 175 and will be preparation for his challenge for the undisputed championship against the Beterbiev-Bivol winner.
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