David Benavidez has revealed plans to make history by becoming a five-division world champion, unveiling a new targeted opponent.
Benavidez got his hands on the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles when he halted Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to become a three-division world champion earlier this year.
Next month, he competes in a three-belt unification with WBC titlist Michal Cieslak in an attempt to move one step closer to the undisputed crown.
The remaining IBF marble is currently vacant and it remains to be seen whether Jai Opetaia will be reinstated as their champion following his ongoing lawsuit, or if Viddal Riley and David Nyika will compete for the belt in early 2027.
Either way, undisputed supremacy is Benavidez’s target, but the undefeated fan-favourite told Chris Mannix that he also has eyes on world honours at both bridgerweight and heavyweight, once he has achieved cruiserweight domination.
“My plan, honestly, I never thought that I was going to be a three-division world champion. Back then it was a dream, but now that I know that what I am capable of, my sights are on beating these [cruiserweight] fighters, then I want to go up to bridgerweight and get a title there.
“Then, I want to go to heavyweight and get titles there. By the time that my career will be done, if it plays out how I see it in my head, I will be a champion in five different divisions and whoever the opponents are to make that happen – that is who I am going to have to face.
“That is what is in my sights. That is what I want to do before I retire and five-division champion sounds really nice to me and it seems possible now.”
Belgium’s Ryad Merhy is the current holder of the WBC bridgerweight title, with that being the sole sanctioning body that recognises the 224lb division following the WBA’s discontinuation.
Should Benavidez achieve world honours at bridgerweight and then also at heavyweight, he would become the first five-division world champion in boxing history to have reigned at heavyweight.
