David Benavidez’s Undisputed Ambitions: Negotiating With Dmitry Bivol For September, Despite The Threatening Beterbiev Trilogy

David Benavidez revealed that his management is “trying to negotiate” a fight against Dmitry Bivol for his undisputed light heavyweight championship for September.

It’s questionable whether Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) will agree to fight Benavidez because the Riyadh Season organizers are interested in a trilogy match with Artur Beterbiev next.

April 8th Deadline

Fans prefer to see Benvidez get a shot at fighting Bivol rather than a third straight fight with Beterbiev. People have seen enough of the two Russian fighters from their two previous fights to know how the third will play out.

Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) is the WBC mandatory for Bivol’s belt, and the sanctioning body has already ordered the fight. The deadline before a purse bid is April 8th. Bivol will need to vacate his WBC belt if he chooses not to fight Benavidez because the fight has already been ordered.

“Right now, we’re trying to negotiate the fight. It might be in the works for September, but we don’t know. Everything in boxing isn’t 100%,” David Benavidez told DAZN Boxing about a clash between him and undisputed light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. “We’re going to keep trying to negotiate the fight. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but that’s the one we’re trying to make happen.”

No Step Aside

Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, said last Saturday night that they’re NOT interested in stepping aside to take an interim fight to allow Bivol and Beterbiev to fight their trilogy match. The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez already got the runaround by Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight when he was the mandatory for his WBC belt and never got a chance to fight him.

Not surprisingly, Benavidez is jaded from that experience, and he’s not going to trust Bivol to fight him after his trilogy match. If Artur Beterbiev wins the third fight, he could retire and scatter all the belts or vacate the WBC belt. That means Benavidez will have wasted his time waiting for the trilogy.