
David Benavidez has put himself in pole position for the winner of the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Benavidez secured the WBC interim and WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight titles with victory over David Morrell on Saturday in Las Vegas, a win that has made him mandatory to Beterbiev, who looks to make it two straight successes over Bivol on February 22.
’The Mexican Monster’ has sparred several rounds with Bivol, who was beaten by majority decision to his Russian rival in May and admits he’d prefer to share the ring with the 34-year-old.
The Phoenix man has been frustrated in his attempts to lure unified super middleweight champion, Canelo Alvarez into a clash, but believes a victory over Bivol, who handed Alvarez just his second professional defeat in 2022, could entice the Mexican great into a showdown with him.
“I would pick Bivol [to fight],” Benavidez told Ariel Helwani.

“Because Bivol beat Canelo so basically when I beat Bivol, that would make my case even better for Canelo.
“I know Dmitry Bivol really well.
“I’ve sparred him a lot. He’s a great fighter and we’ve had a lot of great sparring sessions.
“So I definitely would love to fight Bivol.”

Benavidez, who climbed off the canvas to beat Morrell, says will be ringside in Saudi Arabia to witness the rematch between his future opponents.
And the unbeaten 28-year-old admits he is confident of defeating anyone in the division.
“We’re going to go over there [to Saudi Arabia],” he added.
“So we’ll probably figure everything out.

“We’ll see what happens, but the good thing is we’ve got a lot of big things coming up.
“We’ve potentially got a unification coming up.
‼️ David Benavidez is now the WBC mandatory challenger to undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev…#BenavidezMorrell pic.twitter.com/aHgKnvGSte
— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) February 2, 2025
“I proved to everybody what level I’m on and how much heart I have.
“I’ll bet the house on me against anybody and I’m just looking forward to keep making history.”