{"id":727786,"date":"2026-08-05T01:48:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/727786\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:48:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:48:07","slug":"david-benavidez-accused-of-running-and-hiding-by-the-best-cruiserweight-on-the-planet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/727786\/","title":{"rendered":"David Benavidez accused of ‘running and hiding’ by ‘the best cruiserweight on the planet’"},"content":{"rendered":"

If David Benavidez decides to stick around in the cruiserweight ranks, there is a bitter rivalry brewing.<\/p>\n

Benavidez moved up to cruiserweight in May, stopping Gilberto Ramirez in six rounds to claim the WBA and WBO world titles.<\/a><\/p>\n

Although many expected Benavidez to return to light-heavyweight in pursuit of Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev, his team instead petitioned the WBC to install him as mandatory challenger to cruiserweight champion Noel Mikalian.<\/p>\n

The fight was ordered, but Mikalien has instead booked a fight with former IBF champion and new Zuffa Boxing champion Jai Opetaia, and is expected to be stripped of his WBC belt soon as a result. Opetaia is a two-time IBF champion, but was stripped of the belt ahead of his first fight under his new deal \u2013 something that has prompted legal action.<\/a><\/p>\n

Upon announcing the fight, which lands on the Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn card on September 12, Opetaia took a shot at the new unified champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge card, and I look forward to showing the world once again why I\u2019m the best cruiserweight on the planet. Credit to Noel for stepping up to the plate while others \u2013 yes, David Benavidez, I\u2019m talking about you \u2013 continue to run and hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benavidez\u2019s trainer and father, Jose Sr, said earlier this year that he contacted Opetaia\u2019s team for a fight but received no reply.<\/p>\n

Should Mikalien be stripped and interim champion Micha\u0142 Cie\u015blak upgraded, Benavidez may still have the opportunity to face him for the belt. With Bivol and Beterbiev reportedly closing in on a trilogy at light-heavyweight, it may be the most appealing option.<\/p>\n

As for Opetaia, a win over Mikalien only builds the fight with Benavidez, which is quickly becoming one of boxing\u2019s must-see attractions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If David Benavidez decides to stick around in the cruiserweight ranks, there is a bitter rivalry brewing. Benavidez…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-727786","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\/727786","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=727786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}