Dmitry Bivol‘s undisputed light-heavyweight reign was short-lived after he opted to vacate one of his four belts rather than face a mandatory challenger.
The elite Russian fighter won the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF straps from Artur Beterbiev in a rematch after losing a close content in their first meeting.
However, David Benavidez was declared the new WBC light-heavyweight champion at the beginning of April after Bivol opted to vacate the crown to pursue a trilogy bout with Beterbiev, something his team say was pre-agreed.
Benavidez had held the WBC ‘Interim’ strap at 175lbs since he defeated Ukraine’s Oleksandr Gvozdyk last year, in what was his light heavyweight debut after a successful campaign at 168lbs. He followed up with a stellar win over David Morrell to add the WBA Regular belt to his collection before he was called to face Bivol.
Speaking on Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru and Henry, Benavidez shared details of how former undisputed light-heavyweight champion turned down an offer in excess of $8 million to face him.
“Also with Bivol, they offered him $8 million, I don’t know how much he would have got paid, but they said it was $2.7 million against Beterbiev for his last fight, and they offered [$8 million].
“You gotta look at this too, Bivol’s not really a household name like that, Beterbiev’s not a household name like that, they’re f**king amazing fighters, they don’t really sell that much, so I come back to this point all the time, if you can f**king beat me come shut me up and make a big f**king bag.”
‘The Monster’ is set to announce the first defence of his WBC crown in the coming weeks, with light-heavyweight contenders Callum Smith and Anthony Yarde emerging as potential opponents for the unbeaten 28-year-old who has defeated all 30 of the opponents he has faced since making his debut back in 2013.
