David Benavidez has outlined his strategy to face an inferior opponent, collect another title and negotiate a more lucrative deal with Al Haymon’s PBC.
‘The Mexican Monster’ comes off a sixth-round finish over Gilberto Ramirez, who he dethroned for the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles in May.
In doing so, Benavidez became a three-division world champion and cemented himself as a top 10 pound-for-pound operator, while still holding the WBC strap at 175lbs.
The 29-year-old has therefore afforded himself several options for his next outing, which seems likely to be against WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian.
It was initially reported that Mikaelian, who comes off a unanimous decision victory over Badou Jack in December, would be facing Zuffa champion Jai Opetaia later this year.
Since those talks commenced, though, Benavidez has become the WBC mandatory challenger at 200lbs, seemingly attempting to torpedo negotiations between Opetaia and Mikaelian.
In any case, the Mexican-American has told Luis Parra that he expects to secure a three-belt unification match, which would signify the final fight on his promotional contract with PBC.
“Right now, I have to be very smart with my fights, because this is the last fight on my contract with PBC. I’m negotiating a new contract. I don’t want to take the hardest fight in the last fight of my deal.
“What I am going to do is fight another champion at cruiserweight, and after I win that fight, I’ll have [one world title] at light-heavyweight and three titles at cruiserweight. That gives me more leverage to negotiate a bigger contract.”
While Mikaelian represents a solid opponent, Benavidez has previously expressed his desire to face Dmitry Bivol in a far more appealing undisputed light-heavyweight clash.
But if both champions keep hold of their belts at 175lbs, then perhaps this matchup could be explored at some point in 2027.
