David Benavidez may be moving up to cruiserweight next spring, but a return to light-heavyweight cannot be ruled out regardless of how things play out. He has mentioned a future fight with Ben Whittaker could be on the cards.
Following his destructive win over Anthony Yarde last weekend — retaining his WBC light-heavyweight title in the process — “The Mexican Monster” announced his next move. On May 2, 2026, Benavidez will jump 25lbs to challenge unified cruiserweight world champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.
The announcement effectively removes light-heavyweight clashes with Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev from the equation. Both Russians are former undisputed champions, though Bivol currently holds three of the four major belts.
Britain’s Ben Whittaker, 9-0-1 (6 KOs), continues his own career this weekend as his alignment with Matchroom begins in earnest at Birmingham’s NEC. However “The Surgeon” performs against Benjamin Gavazi won’t send shockwaves through the division, but the Olympic medallist is viewed by some as a future world champion.
Boxing News caught up with Whittaker this week and one of the topics discussed was Benavidez — specifically, how he believes the WBC champion would fare against either Bivol or Beterbiev.
“That’s the thing — they’re seasoned at the weight, big light-heavies. They’ve got experience and they always find a way to do it. So for me the person who could have beat him is Bivol. Bivol can box and he can fight. But we keep hearing these sparring stories. He knows something we don’t apparently. So it is what it is.”
Benavidez recently revealed to BN a detail from sparring sessions with Bivol several years ago. For the time being, however, the chances of them fighting one another seems distant.
“I sparred Bivol a lot of times. I remember that he was a good fighter. The last time I sparred him I hurt him bad in the fourth round. He’s a great fighter — I don’t take nothing away from him. The last time I sparred him, I was 22 years old, so that was about six years ago. But I do remember that there are some opportunities I could take advantage of.”
