The pageantry, the mariachis, the combat.
Cinco de Mayo weekend holds a special place in boxing history, a slot in which some of the greatest fighters — including many with ties to Mexico — have made a name for themselves on the sport’s biggest stage. Many have watched, including David Benavidez, who gets his turn in that spotlight on Saturday night.
“That’s all I grew up on,” Benavidez said. “We used to watch the fights with Cesar Chavez on May 5, Oscar De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales, Floyd Mayweather, even Canelo (Álvarez)’s fights. … Cinco de Mayo. It’s a big date. It’s a big party for all Mexican people and all the boxing fans.”
Benavidez, the WBC light heavyweight titleholder and two-time super middleweight champion, is moving up in weight to take on WBA/WBO cruiserweight champ Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez on Saturday night (which is May 2) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“We’ve been blessed with so many great fights on Cinco de Mayo that I’m just grateful to be chosen to give the sport another great fight,” Benavidez said.
Benavidez, 29, is 31-0 with 25 knockouts, and there is some irony that he will be taking Álvarez’s traditional Cinco de Mayo spot. Many feel that Álvarez, who is sidelined after elbow surgery, has been ducking Benavidez for years. (Álvarez has not returned to the ring since losing to Terence Crawford in September.)
“It’s a big deal, man. I’m very excited,” Benavidez said. “I don’t want to be just the face of Mexican boxing, but for the whole sport. People will see that I am a monster in the ring with tremendous heart, who leaves it all on the line for his fans every single night.”
Benavidez plans to move back down in weight to fight Dmitry Bivol if he beats Ramirez. That would be a tougher camp than this one, as not cutting weight to 175 pounds has allowed the Phoenix-born Benavidez to occasionally hit the drive-thru window.
“I’ve been eating Big Macs every night, and drinking a large soda every day,” he said, laughing, during a Zoom interview. “… I’m just very happy and charged up because I don’t really have to lose weight, and that’s something that’s new to me as a professional. Been 13 years. I think this is going to be the best I’ve looked in any fight thus far.”
He is not looking past Ramirez, who is 48-1 with 30 knockouts and should have plenty of support among Mexican fans because he is from Mazatlán.
Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez is a champion at 200 pounds.
Benavidez and Ramirez know each other well. They have sparred close to a hundred times, up to six rounds a session.
“I sparred against him the first time when I was 17. And the last time I was 23,” Benavidez said. “There’s already information I’ve learned, and that’s stayed in my head. And there’s also new information I’ve learned just watching his fights and just stuff I do now better.”
If one were to think that his father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., was trying to temper that confidence, one would be wrong.
“At the end of the day, sparring doesn’t mean anything. When you’re in there in front of all these people in small gloves, it’s a different story,” Jose Benavidez said in a telephone interview.
His son respects Ramirez’s jab and body shots and acknowledges that they are good friends. But fighting is different.
“The thing about boxing is you could be friends and there could be respect, but that goes away when you walk in the ring. I enjoy beating up people too much,” David Benavidez said. “He’s the champion, you know what I mean? You’ve got to give him credit for that. It’s gonna be a great fight.”
The fact that the bout features two fighters of Mexican descent is not lost on Jose Benavidez, who was born in Mexico City and moved with his family to the United States when he was 11. Now, he will be walking with his son through a delirious crowd of fans on one of the biggest showcase weekends for boxing.
“It means the whole world to me, you know, because those days were held by legends,” Jose Benavidez said. “… We’re not going to let this opportunity go. We have been preparing ourselves for this since he was 2 years old, and David is at his best. This is his era, and he is going to show why he is the face of boxing.”