LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MAY 02: David Benavidez (L) punches WBA/WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez during a title fight at T-Mobile Arena on May 02, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Benavidez took the titles with a sixth-round TKO. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

David Benavidez spent years trying to fight Canelo Alvarez, only for the latter to refuse to do business with someone he strongly dislikes. Saul Canelo Alvarez has been the face of North American boxing for nearly a decade. Benavidez has long sought that title. Alvarez was the latest in a long line of great Mexican boxers, including Salvador Sanchez, Julio Cesar Chavez, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, and Juan Manuel Marquez. Canelo Alvarez has fought on the Cinco de Mayo weekend 11 times in his career. This year, Alvarez was unable to fight on Cinco De Mayo Weekend due to undergoing surgery on his left elbow. Instead, David Benavidez took over the Cinco De Mayo weekend date at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, long dominated by Alvarez.

David Benavidez versus Zurdo Ramirez at T-Mobile Arena felt like a passing of the torch moment for boxing. At 29 years old, David Benavidez is a three-division champion at supermiddleweight, light heavyweight, and now cruiserweight. Following the fight, the Ring Magazine named him the number five pound-for-pound boxer in the world. On the flip side, Canelo Alvarez has entered the twilight of his career. After twenty years of professional boxing and 68 fights, it is safe to say Canelo Alvarez’s best years are behind him. His unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford in September confirmed it. The former two-division undisputed champion does not have the same fire he had in his prime. Father time has caught up. Now, it is David Benavidez’s turn to hold the torch of Mexico’s greatest fighter and perhaps even the face of North American boxing.

Benavidez’s win over Zurdo Ramirez improved the newly crowned WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion to 32-0 in his professional boxing career. The only knock against David Benavidez’s resume, to no fault of his own, is the lack of big fights to this point in his career. He has beaten several solid fighters, including Demetrious Andrade, Caleb Plant, David Morrell, and Zurdo Ramirez. However, the competition on the horizon for Benavidez is on another level. Potential opponents for David Benavidez’s next fight include Undisputed light heavyweight champion and #6 ranked fighter on the Ring Magazine Pound for Pound rankings Dmitri Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs), former undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs), as well as IBF and lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs).

The Ring Magazine has reported that David Benavidez has entered early conversations with Dmitri Bivol’s team for a fight later this year. Bivol is currently scheduled to fight Michael Eifert on May 30th in Russia. Bivol vs Benavidez is the biggest fight on the table for David Benavidez at the moment. Stylistically, Bivol presents a unique challenge for Benavidez, with elite footwork and distance management, fast hands, and arguably the best jab in boxing. A showdown between Benavidez and Bivol promises to be an excellent display of technical boxing. The object of the sport is to hit your opponent, without getting hit, and Benavidez and Bivol are two of the best in the world at that, ranking 2nd and 3rd among active blockers in +/-, respectively, according to CompuBox.

On Cinco De Mayo Weekend of 2022, Dmitri Bivol shocked the boxing world with a unanimous decision win over Canelo Alvarez at T-Mobile Arena. In that performance, Bivol’s speed, elite footwork, and overall offensive volume overpowered Canelo Alvarez. What stuck out the most about Benavidez’s performance against Ramirez on Saturday was the speed and volume. His offensive volume and combinations are overwhelming for the larger, slower cruiserweights. It is hard to envision any fighter overcoming the relentless high-volume punching and combinations of David Benavidez, except maybe Dmitri Bivol. The true difference maker between the fighters may be punching power. Bivol has only 12 knockouts in 24 professional fights, and only one since 2018. Benavidez has 26 knockouts in 32 fights, including his most recent victory against Zurdo Ramirez. Bivol defeated Ramirez via unanimous decision in November of 2022, while Benavidez earned a TKO victory over Ramirez in Round Six at a higher weight class. Does Bivol have enough power to keep Benavidez off him? Is Bivol’s elite footwork good enough to stop Benavidez from dictating their upcoming fight? Whether this fight takes place at light heavyweight or cruiserweight matters little. As of now, it is hard not to envision David Benavidez walking through any fighter they put in front of him, whether it is Bivol, Beterbiev, or Opetaia. If Benavidez can add those names to his resume and deliver three signature wins, especially against a pound-for-pound great in Bivol, who defeated Canelo Alvarez, Benavidez would accomplish his dream of taking Canelo’s title as the face of boxing in North America.