David Benavidez jumps up to the cruiserweight division to face Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez on Saturday night from Las Vegas, with Benavidez looking to become a three-division world champion, and Zurdo aiming to score a marquee win on a traditionally huge weekend in boxing.
Bad Left Hook will have LIVE results, updates, and reactions starting from 8:00 pm ET on Saturday, May 2, 2026.
David Benavidez’s recent form
Zurdo may be the defending WBA and WBO cruiserweight titlist, but Benavidez (31-0, 25 KO) is the promotional A-side, as
he’s become the bigger, more marketable star of the two over the last couple of years.
In his last five, Benavidez, 29, has ended his run at 168 lbs with wins over Caleb Plant and Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade in 2023, and then moved up to 175 for victories over Oleskandr Gvozdyk, David Morrell Jr, and Anthony Yarde. He forced Andrade out after six rounds of punishment, and dominated Yarde en route to a TKO-7 win last time out in November, where he solidified his status as WBC light heavyweight champ.
Zurdo Ramirez’s recent form
The 34-year-old Zurdo (48-1, 30 KO) ended his own time at 175 lbs with a loss to Dmitry Bivol in late 2022, no shame in that, Bivol is a top fighter, one of the best of his generation. Since moving up to cruiserweight, Ramirez has gone 4-0, with decision wins over Joe Smith Jr, Arsen Goulamirian, Chris Billam-Smith, and Yuniel Dorticos.
Ramirez hasn’t totally dominated those last two fights, but he’s been the better man in both of them, and they were hard-earned wins. On one hand, you can say this means he’s ripe to be beaten by someone of Benavidez’s level, but on the other, it’s proof that Zurdo can battle through some adversity and win a fight, he doesn’t need to have everything go his way to be victorious. There’s real value in that, and it’s something that makes for a line in the sand at top level.
Who will win Benavidez vs Zurdo?
The popular pick is going to be Benavidez, and with good reason. He’s on a roll, he’s been marketed quite well, and he’s legitimately gotten to where his talent should have taken him after flirting a couple of times with the sort of out-of-ring issues that sometimes suggest a fighter isn’t as serious as he needs to be. Benavidez made mistakes, accepted it, and put it all together to become the fighter and the man he is today, and he is a top fighter. He has become what he had the ability to be.
But don’t take this weight jump for granted. The jump from light heavyweight to cruiserweight is massive. It’s a 25 lb increase in weight limit. This isn’t going from 168 to 175, as Benavidez has already done, and as Ramirez did, too.
The 29-year-old Benavidez has a big frame and the body type to move up well to cruiserweight, I think, as Zurdo did. But Zurdo took a little half-step for his first fight in the division; Joe Smith was a tough fighter, but past his prime and not a natural cruiserweight, either. Benavidez is doing no such thing. He’s jumping right into the fire against one of the top two fighters in the division.
One thing I do like is that Benavidez apparently didn’t push with all his might to be at or as close to the 200 lb limit as possible. He weighed in at 196¾ lbs today, and while a few ticks on the scale may not seem like much, it can be the difference between him feeling comfortably bigger in the ring and feeling a little too heavy, and there’s just not much room for error at this level.
I’m going to pick Benavidez, too, because I think he’s just a more talented fighter. But I expect this to be a rugged, grueling fight, and Zurdo’s not going to be easy to beat. We’ll see the distance, and I expect their faces to show the evidence of 12 hard rounds when it’s all over.
Prediction: David Benavidez by unanimous decision
