David Benavidez cemented himself among the top pound-for-pound star’s with an impressive sixth round stoppage over Gilberto Ramirez this past Saturday in Las Vegas. Hence his name being even more heavily linked with the sport’s biggest names, including Jai Opetaia.
Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) dropped Ramirez twice on his way to claiming the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles, while also becoming a three-weight world champion. The 29-year-old is also the current WBC light heavyweight champion, but moved north as he struggled to get a fight with Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev.
With two weight classes at his immediate disposal, Benavidez’s name has been heavily linked with former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia. The Australian southpaw, who was considered the best fighter at 200 pounds until Benavidez’s win on Saturday, had his IBF title stripped following a move to Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing. Benavidez believes that fighters signing up with boxing’s newest power player, will not have as much influence on their careers as before.
“Yeah I definitely think they are losing their power,” Benavidez said regarding the topic at the post fight official press conference. “I think there is just a lot of politics and that. I think Dana White has shown that he doesn’t want to do fights with PBC [or] DAZN. I don’t even want to sound like I’m disrespecting him, but that is just what it looks like from the outside. If we can come to an agreement and make a big fight? Let’s do it.”
Zuffa have been busy recruiting at 200 pounds this month, adding cruiserweight contenders Chris Billam-Smith and Ryan Rozicki to their stable.
