As David Benavidez challenges Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez this weekend in a cruiserweight title fight, he talks to ESPN about his career plans, not having been able to secure a fight against Canelo, and his plans to return to light heavyweight to seek out a fight against Dmitry Bivol.
“I definitely feel like with [Canelo] not wanting to take the fight with me has gave me more attention,” Benavidez said of his profile since failed attempts to make a fight with Canelo. “There’s definitely been more people
that watch me because they know Canelo and they keep hearing Canelo doesn’t want to fight Benavidez, so that puts more attention on me.
“But at the end of the day I don’t want to just think about Canelo, that’s why I moved up to cruiserweight and that’s why I’ve been doing my own thing, fighting these great champions and fighting these great contenders because at the end of the day I’m not just waiting for Canelo. I know I’m a great talent on my own, I know I’m a star by myself, so I’m there making my own path, trying to beat champions in every other division.”
Benavidez was then asked about what fight he realistically thinks provides him with the biggest opportunity in at the moment.
“I think the biggest fight for me is obviously, I think, Bivol because Bivol has all the belts and that’s really what I’m after,” Benavidez said. “I want to unify the titles but also there’s some [other] big fights. You got Beterbiev. Artur Beterbiev is a good fight that I want. The thing about Opetaia, that would be a great fight too, but since he’s with Zuffa I don’t know how that’s going to work — a lot of big politics going on right now, so maybe we could get Opetaia in the future but that definitely is a great fight.”
Benavidez takes on Zurdo this Saturday on DAZN with the WBO title on the line, and BLH will be here with full live coverage of the event.
