RATHER than wait round and discover out if he has been picked to turn out to be Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s subsequent opponent, David Benavidez has made it clear he’s on a path of his personal by agreeing to battle Alexander Gvozdyk in his subsequent bout.
The battle, which was introduced final night time by the WBC, is scheduled to happen at light-heavyweight – subsequently not even in Canelo terrain – and signifies both that Benavidez is finished with super-middleweight for good or has merely grown uninterested in ready for Canelo to make up his thoughts.
Regardless, it’s encouraging to see a fighter like Benavidez take a chance like this and see himself as greater than only a potential Canelo opponent. Certainly, by grabbing the initiative and performing first, he has proven each Alvarez and the boxing world that there’s extra to life – that’s, Benavidez’s boxing life – than a collision course with a fellow Mexican he could or could not sooner or later battle. He has a profession of his personal, in spite of everything, and at 27, and with loads of momentum, will know that these subsequent few years are essential to each his improvement and total success.
Benavidez dominates Demetrius Andrade (David Becker/Getty Photos)
Whether or not these years embrace Canelo Alvarez or not stays to be seen. At this level, although, there’s little to counsel Benavidez was even being thought-about as Alvarez’s Could opponent, by no means thoughts main the race. As a substitute, all of the discuss has been of Alvarez combating Jermall Charlo – the brother of Alvarez’s most up-to-date sufferer, Jermell – which is a battle of which only a few are enamoured.
That has but to be confirmed, by the way in which, and there’s nonetheless each probability Alvarez will go in a unique path altogether. Nonetheless, from Benavidez’s perspective, no good was going to return from merely twiddling his thumbs or, at finest, attempting to place himself for a battle that will nicely by no means even materialise.
He appears to have understood this, too, which is why final night time his transfer to light-heavyweight – and his subsequent opponent – was confirmed by the WBC.
“Very proud to announce a sensational battle which the @WBCBoxing has authorized to sanction for the interim Gentle-heavyweight championship Benavidez vs Gvozdyk,” wrote Mauricio Sulaiman, the WBC President, on social media. “Want one of the best of luck for each champions @Benavidez300 vs @AlexandrGvozdyk.”
Gvozdyk, a really succesful fighter from the Ukraine, fought 3 times final 12 months, which represented much-needed exercise and in addition a return to each kind and confidence following a punishing 2019 defeat to Artur Beterbiev. That is still the one defeat on the 20-1 (16) Gvozdyk document however, on the age of 36, one has to marvel how a lot shedding to Beterbiev took from the previous WBC light-heavyweight champion, not solely bodily however when it comes to ambition.
As for Benavidez, he’s now 28-0 (24) as a professional and was final seen stopping Demetrius Andrade, a fellow unbeaten fighter, inside six rounds in November. Suffice it to say, if the previous WBC super-middleweight champion is to now stick round at light-heavyweight, a division by which Beterbiev and Dimitry Bivol are at present head and shoulders above the remaining, his presence might be most welcome.
