David Benavidez is very persistent, it must be said. For years, he badgered Canelo Alvarez into giving him a chance for a fight that so many boxing fans wants. Despite Alvarez not ever paying much attention to his pleas, Benavidez continued mentioning him at every opportunity.
Benavidez eventually moved on, although he still holds out some hope it can happen in the future, no matter how unlikely it seems. Now, he has turned his attention to Dmitry Bivol, and only Dmitry Bivol. Following his win over David Morrell on February 1, on the same card where Bivol beat Artur Beterbiev, Benavidez has made it clear that Bivol is his main target.
And he has the backing of the WBC in order to facilitate Bivol-Benavidez being the next fight for both boxers. The WBC ordered the fight two weeks ago, with the deadline for both sides to reach an agreement being set as April 8. That date is nearing, and Benavidez’s team is putting pressure on the Russian.
Dmitry Bivol will lose WBC belt if he doesn’t fight David Benavidez next
Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, told BoxingScene that Bivol will be stripped of his WBC light heavyweight belt if he doesn’t fight Benavidez next.
This is the only fight that we like. There’s no other fight. Now everybody is talking about Callum Smith. It could happen only for the WBC full title, not for any other thing. There’s no more interim championship for Benavidez. He never took a step-aside, and you can send a message to everyone that it will never happen without the full title of the WBC. The loyalty for us is the WBC at this point. We don’t need the money and we [will] not kiss any ring.
Despite the insistence from Benavidez’s camp, everything has pointed to Bivol’s next fight being the trilogy against Beterbiev. Eddie Hearn has mentioned it several times, and reports align with that notion. It just won’t be for the undisputed titles, unless Bivol does a 180 and agrees to fight Benavidez first.
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