David Benavidez could be on the cusp of a banner year.
‘El Monstro’, one of boxing’s pound-for-pound stars, leaves the light heavyweight division after only a handful of fights to challenge Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for the champion’s unified cruiserweight titles in a match between two Mexican fighters atop a Cinco de Mayo card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a Premier Boxing Champions event on Prime Video pay-per-view.
The event takes place in a week, on May 2, and, should Benavidez topple ‘Zurdo’, either by decision or by knockout, the result alone would put him in the running for Fighter of the Year.
But his exploits in 2026 may not stop there, as Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn, who has represented Dmitry Bivol, said talks have been held with Benavidez’s manager, Luis de Cubas Jr.
“That’s a fight that we’re discussing with Luis De Cubas.”
— Eddie Hearn on Dmitry Bivol vs David Benavidez
And so, if Benavidez were to fight both Ramirez at cruiserweight to win two of the four major championships at 200 pounds, and then fight, and beat, the lineal light heavyweight champion, he’d easily secure Fighter of the Year honors while further boosting his pound-for-pound ranking — perhaps even to a top-three position.
Benavidez’s best wins to date include a ninth-round knockout of Anthony Dirrell, a coming-of-age battering of Caleb Plant over 12 rounds, a brutal sixth-round demolition of Demetrius Andrade, and other wins like Oleksandr Gvozdyk, David Morrell, and Anthony Yarde.
Boxing Social editor Alan Dawson is also a columnist at Uncrowned with Yahoo Sports, an organization that places Benavidez as the 7th-best fighter in the world right now, pound-for-pound.
