DAVID Benavidez will face British opposition after all in the first defence of his WBC light-heavyweight title.
‘The Mexican Monster’ had been linked to a fight against former WBA super-middleweight titlist and current WBO interim light-heavyweight belt holder Callum Smith. Speaking to Boxing News earlier this week the Liverpudlian gave an update on how negotiations were proceeding.
“I think everyone’s on the same page; everyone kind of wants the fight to happen,” Smith said.
“It’s just got to make sense for both of us. But in terms of fighting, [Benavidez has] said that he wants to fight me, and I’d love to fight him. It should be simple to make, but it’s not in boxing. It’s never as straightforward as possible.
“Talks are still ongoing. I’ve got a good team, he’s got a good team behind him, so hopefully they can get down [to business] and make ends meet.”
Smith is set to miss out on facing the 28-year-old, however, after this morning’s announcement from Turki Alalshikh. The man behind all of the biggest fights nowadays once again took to X for a fight announcement. He revealed that Benavidez, 30-0 (24 KOs), will face two-time world title challenger Anthony Yarde, 27-3 (24 KOs), on a Riyadh Season event in November. The news comes four days after Alalshikh revealed that WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr would defend his title against Devin Haney also in November and on a Riyadh Season event. There has been no confirmation if both fights will feature on the same card or on two separate shows.
Yarde will be hoping it’s third-time lucky after losing to Sergey Kovalev in 2019 by 11th round TKO in his WBO title tilt. In 2023 the Londoner then lost out to former divisional king Artur Beterbiev after being stopped in the eighth round. Yarde proved to be a different animal in his second shot and gave Beterbiev the toughest test of his career but the Russian’s power proved to be the biggest difference.
Benavidez was upgraded to full WBC champion after Dmitry Bivol vacated the title to pursue a trilogy bout with Beterbiev. In his second bout at the weight Benavidez proved his credentials at 175lbs by beating Cuban talent David Morrell Jr on points. Yarde, meanwhile, won his own trilogy two months ago having got the better of Lyndon Arthur over 12 rounds to win their rubber match.
