David Benavidez‘s next opponent could be about to become clear.
Benavidez became WBC light-heavyweight champion back in April after being elevated from interim status due to Dmitry Bivol vacating the title in order to pursue the trilogy contest with Artur Beterbiev.
Since stepping up to 175lbs, ‘The Mexican Monster’ has claimed victories over Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell, having previously been a two-time world champion at super-middleweight.
His next fight could now be against another former super-middleweight world champion, after promoter Eddie Hearn revealed to On The Record Boxing that an offer had been made for Benavidez to fight Callum Smith.
“We’ve had an offer from PBC for Callum Smith to fight Benavidez, we’re negotiating with them at the moment. It’s a great fight, we all know that Benavidez is a great fighter and it’s not an easy fight at all.
“Callum was the Ring Magazine world champion at 168lbs, we’d love another shot at the title. There’s no easy championship at 175, you’ve either got Bivol or Benavidez. There is a very good chance that Callum will take that fight and we’ll be making our decision over the next 1 or 2 weeks.”
Smith held world honours at 168lbs from 2018 to 2020, before suffering a defeat to Canelo Alvarez. That prompted a step up in weight, where Smith claimed two straight victories to earn a crack at unified champion Beterbiev in January 2024.
The Russian won that fight by seventh round stoppage, but Smith has rebounded since then, becoming WBO interim light-heavyweight champion in his last contest with an impressive victory over Joshua Buatsi in February.
