David Benavidez will return to the ring on December 14th on Amazon Prime Video PPV against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
The WBC interim light heavyweight champion Benavidez’s promoter, Sampson Lewkowic, told Boxingscene that the match it to help prepare his fighter to challenge the winner of the October 12th undisputed fight between 175-lb champions Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will potentially fight the winner of that fight in 2025. Lewkowcicz says he doesn’t care if it’s Bivol or Beterbiev that Benavidez faces.
He’s confident that he can handle both. Benavidez must fight someone good because many feel he doesn’t deserve to fight for a world title after two fights at 175. Fans would be more willing to accept Benavidez fighting for a world title if he faces someone good on December 14th.
Potential Venues in Los Angeles and Las Vegas
The Crypto arena has been booked for December 14th, but Las Vegas is also possible. Benavidez must be matched against a good opponent that will help him prepare to fight for the four belts. He didn’t look impressive in his debut at 175 on June 15th against 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Benavidez blamed his performance on injuries, but he didn’t show power with either hand in the fight, and his stamina was poor. He ran out of gas after six round, and was fortunate to get the win. Many people felt it should have been scored a draw.
Fans want to see Benavidez take on newly crowned WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell.
Fighting Morrell would require bravery on Benavidez’s part because he could lose and miss out on the big payday he’ll get for fighting the Beterbiev-Bivol winner. However, if Benavidez believes in himself, he’ll fight Morrell and show that he’s ready to fight the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol fight..
Morrell looked a lot better in his debut at 175 against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd. The power that Morrell had showed at 168 carried up to 175. Benavidez vs. Morrell would be an excellent fight on December 14th.
