It’s official: David Benavidez finally found a top fighter willing to step in the ring with him. But he has to go up in weight yet again to get it.
Benavidez, an undefeated two-division world champion at super middleweight and light heavyweight, will be moving up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto Ramirez on May 2, headlining a PBC pay-per-view event available on Prime Video from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fighters will square off for the first time this Saturday at a press conference to officially announce their Cinco de Mayo weekend showdown pitting two Mexican fighters at or near the top of their games.
For years, Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) chased a fight against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez at super middleweight, but despite five title defenses against quality opponents, Canelo showed no interest in meeting Benavidez in the ring.
Frustrated, Benavidez decided to move up to light heavyweight in hopes of landing a fight against either of the division’s top two fighters: Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev. But despite Benavidez winning two light heavyweight belts against tough competition, neither Bivol nor Beterbiev—who have fought each other twice, with each winning one—showed interest in fighting Benavidez and instead may engage in a trilogy bout.
So Benavidez looked up one more time and finally found what he was looking for:
Ramirez.
Although not considered one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound, Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs) is, like Benavidez, a former super middleweight champion. Like Benavidez, Ramirez eventually moved up to light heavyweight. Unlike Benavidez, however, he couldn’t win a title in that division, suffering his only loss to Bivol in November 2022 in a title fight.
Soon after the loss, Ramirez moved up to cruiserweight, where he found immediate success. In barely a year, Ramirez won two world titles in the division and is considered by many to be the best fighter at cruiserweight with the exception of Jai Opetaia.