There was a time when David Benavidez was chasing a fight against Canelo Alvarez at 168 pounds. However, despite waiting, taunting, and throwing tantrums, ‘The Mexican Monster’ failed to secure the bout. Ultimately, he moved up to the 175-pound division, with the hope that he would get a shot at the undisputed title. Let’s find out how that worked out. 

Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev fought back in October for the first time, and Beterbiev became the undisputed champion. Meanwhile, organizers planned and set a rematch in motion, forcing Benavidez to wait on the sidelines. The pair fought again earlier this year—this time, Bivol won and became the undisputed light heavyweight champion. 

The expectation was, this time, Benavidez would get to fight Bivol for the undisputed title. Turki Alalshikh previously wanted to arrange the Bivol-Benavidez fight but has now lost interest. A report from The Ring states that the Saudi Royal no longer wants to make the fight happen. Instead, now, he is advocating for a rubber match between Bivol and Beterbiev. 

Despite this revelation from the man who has been making the biggest fights possible, the WBC officially ordered Bivol to defend his belts against Benavidez. Soon afterwards, some reports suggested that talks for a fight between Benavidez and Bivol are getting close. However, that was later revealed to be just a rumor. Respected boxing journalist Dan Rafael shared what really happened. 

“Per Benavidez promoter @SampsonBoxing this is false. Both sides have made offers to the other but not ‘close to being finalized’ at all,” Rafael wrote on X. Eddie Hearn has now hit the final nail in the coffin. While appearing in an interview with Boxing King Media, he said, “We want to keep hold of all the belts,” responding to WBC’s decision to impose Benavidez as mandatory. 

“But if we have to lose 1 to follow his excellency [Turki Alalshikh’s] plan for Dmitry Bivol…no problem as well,” he added. So it looks like Bivol may lose his WBC belt, making the third fight non-undisputed and denying Beterbiev a second undisputed title.

Regardless, despite Hearn’s confidence in a trilogy, does Benavidez think a fight against Bivol is possible? 

David Benavidez reveals the truth about potentially fighting Dmitry Bivol

David Benavidez remains hopeful about facing Dmitry Bivol despite the uncertainty surrounding the fight. Speaking to DAZN’s Patricia Duong at BKFC 70, Benavidez provided an update. “So right now we’re trying to negotiate the fight; it might be in the works for September,” he said. However, he acknowledged the unpredictability of boxing. 

“But we don’t know. You know everything in boxing is not 100%, so we’re just going to keep trying to negotiate the fight, and if it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. But that’s the one we’re trying to make happen.”  Regardless, if Bivol vacates the belt, as Hearn suggested he might, Benavidez could end up fighting for it. The WBC might promote him to full champion due to his ‘Interim’ status.

That said, it appears that even though several attempts have been made to make the Dmitry Bivol vs. David Benavidez fight happen, Artur Beterbiev will end up fighting Bivol. The only silver lining for Benavidez is that after the trilogy, he has the biggest claim at the undisputed shot. What are your thoughts on Hearn’s statement?