Benavidez’s Offers Proposal To Dmitry Bivol

Fresh off claiming the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles with a sixth-round knockout of Gilberto Ramirez last weekend, David Benavidez (33-0) has set his sights on a clash with unified light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (24-1) — pitching a 190-pound catchweight “winner-take-all” fight that would put both men’s titles on the line.

There is a significant obstacle. The IBF, WBA and WBC all require both fighters to weigh in at or below 175lbs for light heavyweight titles to be on the line, meaning Bivol’s belts could not legitimately be contested at 190 pounds under current sanctioning body rules.

Benavidez, who believes he can still make 175lbs, is not ruling out dropping back down to light heavyweight for the fight. A September date has been ruled out, with Benavidez suggesting the end of 2026 as the more realistic target, however with Bivol expected to face Artur Beterbiev in a trilogy fight, a Benavidez-Bivol fight doesn’t seem likely for the near future.

“I was thinking, ‘How can we make the fight even bigger?’ Maybe we do a catchweight at 190. We get the cruiserweight belts involved, light heavyweight belts involved, and the winner takes all. Dmitry said he wants to fight for the cruiserweight championship before his career was over. So, maybe we can make a bigger fight like that. It probably won’t be until the end of the year. It won’t be in September,” Benavidez