{"id":621575,"date":"2026-06-04T23:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T23:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621575\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T23:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T23:08:07","slug":"world-champion-to-be-stripped-of-title-if-he-refuses-to-face-david-benavidez-next-thats-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/621575\/","title":{"rendered":"World champion to be stripped of title if he refuses to face David Benavidez next: &#8220;That&#8217;s it&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/david-benavidez\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David Benavidez<\/a> captured the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles last time out and \u2018The Mexican Monster\u2019 could be set to further add to his collection, after one world champion has been ordered to face him, or be stripped of his belt.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/48646802\/david-benavidez-vs-gilberto-zurdo-ramirez-live-updates-boxing-results-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Having moved up from light-heavyweight and dethroned Gilberto Ramirez in sensational style last month<\/a>, Benavidez is now in possession of the WBA (Regular) and WBC light-heavyweight world titles, as well as his newly claimed unified cruiserweight crown.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the 29-year-old has a decision on whether he should return to the light-heavyweight scene or remain up at cruiserweight, where he delivered an arguable career-best display last time out, with a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/benavidez-says-zuffa-is-blocking-him\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">showdown against Jai Opetaia being muted<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, Benavidez has also been named as the WBC\u2019s mandatory challenger in the cruiserweight division and ordered for a fight with WBC cruiserweight champion, Noel Mikaelian, another who has been linked to a clash with Opetaia.<\/p>\n<p>Should Mikaelian refuse a title defence against Benavidez, WBC President has vowed to strip the Armenian of the belt, in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxingscene.com\/articles\/maurcicio-sulaiman-david-benavidez-fighting-for-wbc-cruiserweight-title-next\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BoxingScene<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WBC order is Mikaelian against Benavidez. That\u2019s it. If he takes another fight, he is relinquishing his obligations with the WBC,\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[There is no deadline] at this time. I\u2019ll be talking to all the different managers. This is a top priority. I\u2019m very much looking forward to making sure this happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If Mikaeilian chooses to proceed with a fight against Opetaia and thus loses his world title, it is expected that Poland-born interim champion, Michal Cieslak, will benefit. He will either be elevated to full world champion and ordered for a first defence against Benavidez, or inserted into a contest for the vacant belt against the three-division world champion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Benavidez captured the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles last time out and \u2018The Mexican Monster\u2019 could&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-621575","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\/621575","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=621575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}