Once upon a time, David Benavidez was urging, pleading, and even demanding Canelo Alvarez for what he rightfully deserved. However, all his words fell on deaf ears. Eventually, ‘The Mexican Monster’ was forced to move up in weight to the light heavyweight division. For a while, it seemed like he had found his new home. 

After all, he defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk, David Morrell, and now Anthony Yarde quite dominantly. After being upgraded to the WBC champion, he seemed poised to land an undisputed fight against WBA, IBF, and WBO champion Dmitry Bivol. However, after his latest win over Yarde, David Benavidez appears to have left all of those hopes in the rear-view mirror. 

David Benavidez wants to move to cruiserweight

It’s uncertain whether Benavidez believes an undisputed title shot isn’t coming anytime soon or simply doesn’t want to wait any longer. But he clearly felt the need to take matters into his own hands. After stopping Anthony Yarde via seventh-round technical knockout on Saturday night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he revealed that he plans to move up to the cruiserweight division to take on Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in 2026.

“I just want to keep training hard but I got a little, I got some news for you guys. May 2nd, me vs. ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. I’m going up the cruiserweight to challenge for his title,” Benavidez said during the post-fight interview. “I think it might be in Las Vegas, you know, for my people. I want to go, I wanted to go back to Vegas.” Notably, weight has been a recurring storyline in Benavidez’s career. 

As a kid, Benavidez had problems with managing weight. Not to mention, he famously missed weight in August 2020 ahead of his super-middleweight bout against Roamer Alexis Angulo, losing his WBC super middleweight title on the scale. Since then, despite ongoing struggles, he has consistently managed to make weight. 

Ramirez, of course, currently holds the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles, while Jai Opetaia (IBF) and Badou Jack (WBC) possess the other two belts. It’s also worth mentioning that David Benavidez had mentioned a move months ago, but no one expected it to happen this soon. Regardless, Happy Punch shared Benavidez’s announcement on X after the fight, and fans quickly turned on Benavidez. 

Fans are tired of Benavidez’s constant moving

With Benavidez’s announcement, some were left confused. “Wtf.. what about Bivol & Beterbiev?” one user asked. Well, Beterbiev likely wants to fight Dmitry Bivol to complete their trilogy, and Bivol is the unified champion, so he had a lot of options. 

Meanwhile, this user highlighted the sentiment among the crowd at ANB Arena. “The crowd went hella mild for that announcement 😭,” the user commented. However, it could be due to sheer shock, since it was so unexpected. 

Another user felt bad for Jai Opetaia. “Opetaia is getting f—ked over big time here. The best cruiser out there, and Zurdo has been refusing to go near him for the unification, now this,” the user commented. Opetaia had been advocating for a fight with Ramirez, but as it turns out, the fight’s not happening now. 

The next user didn’t agree with Benavidez’s decision, but gave him a pass. “Don’t agree, but he been taking some [Ls], so he deserves to make his own decisions,” the user wrote. The user is mainly referring to Canelo Alvarez’s continued refusal to face David Benavidez. 

Another user grew tired of Benavidez’s constant moving across weight classes. “Holy f—k he just keeps moving up 😭,” the user commented. But if Benavidez beats Ramirez, he could unify the division at light heavyweight in his next fights. 

Whether people agree with Benavidez’s decision or not, it appears he has made up his mind about moving to cruiserweight. But what do you think? Is it the right move?