Fans have already began to speculate on who may win between Artur Beterbiev and David Benavidez and now a fighter who sparred both men has given a definitive prediction on the bout.
Beterbiev became undisputed light heavyweight champion after defeating Dmitry Bivol in an extremely close battle in Saudi Arabia.
The two men had 12 hard-fought rounds together, but it was Beterbiev who got his hand raised, narrowly coming out on top by majority decision after the judges scored it 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 in his favour.
While a potential rematch has been suggested as what could be next, others within boxing have pointed towards a showdown with Benavidez, who recently made the step up to 175lbs.
He defeated Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June to win the WBC interim light heavyweight title, which puts him first in line at a as mandatory for Benavidez.
Super-middleweight contender Lionell Thompson, aka Lonnie B, has sparred both Beterbiev and Benavidez, and he told Fighthype who he thinks would come out on top.
“I’m still going with Beterbiev. I think with Artur’s strength and power, he hits anybody they’ll be like ‘whoa let me be more strategic.’
“David is really much bigger than Bivol. He’s really a cruiserweight that makes the weight, but he hasn’t been hit as hard. Artur has got retirement pop, so I’m still going with Artur.”
