David Benavidez will face Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim light heavyweight title on June 22nd on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Frank Martin on Amazon Video PPV.
It would be strange to see Benavidez fighting on the undercard rather than headline, but he's still not as big a star as Tank Davis. PBC would like to package these two of his fighters on the same card. This will help you make a good impression on Amazon and ensure a successful event. Tank vs. Martin alone isn't a big enough fight to bring him huge PPV numbers.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) says his goal is to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion by defeating the winner of the June 1st fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. Although he still wants to fight Canelo Alvarez for four belts, he believes preparations for his retirement have begun.
Canelo's “150 million to 200 million” statement was exactly that. Even if Benavidez doesn't win that fight, he says he'll be fine financially since he's already earned a lot of money in his 11-year career.
Battle on the tank card on June 22nd
“Next fight, I'm going to move up a weight class. I'm going to get bigger. Me and Gervonta Davis are fighting together on the card. It's probably the biggest fight of the year,” David Benavidez said on Amazon Prime on June 22. He spoke on the FreshandFit YouTube channel about his shared card with Gervonta Davis at PPV.
We'll see if Benavidez can hold his own against a player more or less his size against Gvozdyk, who has power and could cause problems if he can make the shot. If Benavidez fails against Gvozdyk, he will likely return to 168 and resume fighting smaller fighters.
“I'm fighting for another belt.” [WBC interim light heavyweight title]This puts me in the number one spot to fight the winner of Beterbiev and Bivol. When I was a kid, my dream wasn't, “Oh, I'm going to fight Canelo.'' My dream was to be the best of my generation,” Benavidez said.
“He knows I'm a dog.”
“He knows I'm a dog. He can see it in my eyes,” Benavidez said of Canelo's fear of his size and reach and whether that's why he won't fight him. When asked, he answered: “I want greatness. They talk about money. I don't care about money. I used to make a lot of money when I was young. Not really.”
Benavidez is as big as WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, and Alvarez lost badly to him at 175, so it's likely Benavidez's size that will bother Canelo.
If Benavidez were Canelo's size he would have no problem fighting him, but he's outweighed by 25 pounds and unwilling to give up seven inches of height and reach. That's like asking Benavidez to face 6-foot-5 Anthony Joshua. He's going to give up a lot of size to Joshua, and even with his talent, Benavidez will be too big to handle.
“I'm becoming the undisputed super middleweight world champion and I'm working towards that,” Benavidez said. “Training camp has just started, but I've been training for two months already. Nobody does that. I'm here, I'm focused, and I know what I want. , and know what you want to achieve.
“Canelo is preparing for retirement''
“In the boxing world, that's all that's being talked about right now.” [Benavidez fighting Canelo]. When I heard the number, it was “150 million to 200 million.'' Even Mayweather and Pacquiao didn't understand that.What it sounds like to me is that he [Canelo] I'm preparing for retirement.
“Canelo is preparing to retire and he knows it. I'm not here to play and I'm not lying down for anybody,” Benavidez said.
