{"id":568805,"date":"2026-05-06T06:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/568805\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T06:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:56:14","slug":"jose-benavidez-sr-calls-for-dmitry-bivol-fight-as-schedule-blocks-bout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/568805\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Benavidez Sr. Calls For Dmitry Bivol Fight As Schedule Blocks Bout"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cWe\u2019re not interested in fighting Usyk,\u201d Benavidez Sr. said to Fernando Sabatin<\/a>i. \u201cToday or tomorrow, the WBA will order the fight with Bivol. Either he fights or we\u2019ll keep taking his belts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bivol is expected to defend against Michael Eifert, and a third fight with Artur Beterbiev remains a possibility depending on results. Those commitments could push any new opponent into 2027. The WBA isn\u2019t going to wave a magic wand and make Bivol-Benavidez fight happen.<\/p>\n

Even if Bivol gets past Eifert, the IBA is already pushing for the Beterbiev trilogy in Moscow for the end of the year.<\/p>\n

That puts any potential Benavidez fight into 2027 at the earliest. By then, Bivol will be 36 with a repaired back and three wars with Beterbiev on his odometer. Is that even the fight people want to see?<\/p>\n

That leaves Benavidez waiting on outcomes he cannot control. Even if the WBA moves to order a mandatory, the timing would still depend on Bivol\u2019s obligations and whether he retains his titles.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s 35 years old and coming off a major back surgery in August 2025 to fix a herniated disc. For a guy who relies entirely on his legs to stay out of trouble, a back injury is the beginning of the end. He\u2019s trying to put himself back together after two brutal wars with Artur Beterbiev that took a massive toll.<\/p>\n

In that rematch a year ago, Beterbiev had Bivol\u2019s face falling apart in the 12th round. Bivol survived, but he left a part of his career in that ring.<\/p>\n

Power is the last thing to go, and Beterbiev proved he still has plenty of it, while Bivol looked every bit his age.<\/p>\n

Benavidez moved up in weight, looking for top-level fights, but the path at the top of the division is already tied up. Calling for Bivol keeps his name in position, yet the realistic scenario is a delayed opportunity tied to the results of upcoming fights.<\/p>\n

David Benavidez clearly knows the score, even if his father doesn\u2019t. Stopping Gilberto \u201cZurdo\u201d Ramirez in six rounds on May 2 to pick up the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles was a calculated move. He\u2019s effectively moved on to a third weight class because he knows the 175-pound elite is a logjam of aging champions and mandatory obligations.<\/p>\n

Jose Sr. can keep Bivol\u2019s name in the headlines to keep the hype alive, but the \u201cMexican Monster\u201d is better off ruling at 200 pounds. Chasing a 35-year-old Bivol, who is one more hard fight away from retirement, is a waste of David\u2019s prime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re not interested in fighting Usyk,\u201d Benavidez Sr. said to Fernando Sabatini. \u201cToday or tomorrow, the WBA will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-568805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}