Shakur Stevenson has urged David Benavidez to chase the “best fight in boxing”, rather than defend his WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles.
‘The Mexican Monster’ became a three-division world champion last week, dethroning Gilberto Ramirez with a punishing sixth-round stoppage in his first outing at 200lbs.
As a result, Benavidez has placed himself in the conversation for a showdown with former world cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, or possibly even Oleksandr Usyk.
Jumping up to heavyweight, or even remaining at 200lbs, would certainly be a bold move, especially given that Benavidez admitted to only weighing 202lbs on the night of his triumph over Ramirez.
Based on this information, four-weight world champion Stevenson has said he would much rather see the 29-year-old drop back down to 175lbs.
He does, after all, hold the WBC light-heavyweight title, which he gained after Dmitry Bivol vacated the belt following his undisputed victory over Artur Beterbiev in February 2025.
This was because the Russian chose to undergo back surgery, rather than face his then-mandatory challenger, with Benavidez ultimately being elevated from ‘interim’ to full world champion.
But now that Bivol is gearing up to face mandatory challenger Michael Eifert on May 30, perhaps he will soon wish to become a two-time undisputed king.
For Stevenson, this represents the best-case scenario as he tells The Agnew Podcast that he hopes to see Benavidez compete at his more natural weight.
“I don’t think I want to see him fight at the 200lb weight class. I would rather see him fight [at 175lbs against] Bivol [or] Beterbiev.”
“I think [Bivol-Benavidez is] the best fight in boxing.”
While noise of a potential Usyk fight appears to be growing louder, it is worth highlighting that Benavidez and Bivol have already initiated preliminary talks.
