{"id":625017,"date":"2026-06-06T21:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625017\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:50:09","slug":"teddy-atlas-delivers-honest-verdict-on-david-benavidez-vs-dmitry-bivol-could-be-a-problem-for-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/625017\/","title":{"rendered":"Teddy Atlas delivers honest verdict on David Benavidez vs Dmitry Bivol: “Could be a problem for him”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Teddy Atlas has highlighted one major factor that could make Dmitry Bivol<\/a> too great of a risk for David Benavidez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Their potential undisputed clash could materialise later this year, or early next year, though both light-heavyweight champions are equally considering alternative options.<\/p>\n

With Bivol having just retained his IBF, WBO and WBA titles against Michael Eifert, there appears to be considerable interest in an Artur Beterbiev trilogy showdown in Russia.<\/p>\n

Beterbiev won their first encounter by majority decision in October 2024, while Bivol claimed his undisputed crown via the same margin in their rematch<\/a> the following February.<\/p>\n

It would therefore make sense for the pair to enter a rubber match, potentially leaving Benavidez to remain at 200lbs in pursuit of further titles.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Mexican Monster\u2019 dethroned Gilberto Ramirez with a sixth-round stoppage<\/a> last month, becoming a three-division world champion by claiming the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has become the mandatory challenger to WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian, while still holding his green and gold strap at 175lbs.<\/p>\n

If it were up Atlas, Benavidez would be targeting a three-belt unification match in his current weight division, rather than making the same mistake that Roy Jones Jr did in his illustrious career.<\/p>\n

Speaking on his YouTube channel<\/a>, the Hall of Fame trainer explained the danger of coming down in weight after having acclimatised to the division above.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only concern I have is [with Benavidez] going up and down in weight. Case in point: Roy Jones Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he went up [to fight] John Ruiz to win that version of the heavyweight title, then came back down, he was never the same. He was getting older, but he was never the same.<\/p>\n

\u201c[If] you go up in weight and then you\u2019ve gotta come down \u2013 [Benavidez] can do it, but it could be a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of pound-for-pound legend Jones, a bold decision to re-join the 175lb weight class ultimately contributed to him suffering a second-round stoppage defeat to Antonio Tarver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Teddy Atlas has highlighted one major factor that could make Dmitry Bivol too great of a risk for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-625017","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\/625017","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=625017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}