By Dan Ambrose: Former WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz has written to the WBC to have him reinstated in the World Boxing Council’s rankings at super middleweight after the sanctioning moved him to #1 at 175 due to him missing weight on August 15.
Team Benavidez wants Benavidez to be ranked in the top 15 at 168 so that he can fight a title eliminator to challenge for the strap against the next champion, which could be Canelo Alvarez or Avni Yildirim.
Lewkowicz wants the 23-year-old Benavidez to be moved back to the top 15 at 168 in the WBC’s rankings. If the sanctioning body moves Benavidez to #1 in their rankings at 168, then he would be in a position to get a quick title shot against the winner of the Avni Yildirim vs. Canelo Alvarez fight.
Some fighters won’t want to face Benavidez
Canelo recently asked the WBC to consider him as the opponent for #1 ranked WBC contender Yildirim (21-2, 10 KOs) to fight for the vacant 168lb title, and the sanctioning body approved the Golden Boy star by a 36-1 vote.
Without being given a #1 ranking, Benavidez might end up having to wait a long, long time before he’ll get another crack at the WBC super-middleweight title. It’s not that other fighters would be afraid of facing Benavidez based on his power and talent. It’s his colossal light-heavyweight/cruiserweight-sized rame that might be the problem.
His size would likely be a significant concern for any contender in the WBC’s top 15 rankings at 168. If Benavidez is going to rehydrate to a weight that is well above 168, it puts his opponents in a tough position in fighting a guy that is potentially a cruiserweight on the night.
Unfortunately, the WBC doesn’t have a rehydration limit to prevent fighters from putting on a bunch of water weight overnight after they weigh-in the day before their fights.
WBC could help Benavidez
The International Boxing Federation has a 10-pound rehydration limit that comes into play in the morning of the fight, but the WBC doesn’t have this. So if Benavidez can somehow make weight or the 168lb limit, he could end up a lot heavier than his opponents potentially.
If the WBC requires that all fighters agree to a 10lb rehydration limit for the morning of their fights, then it could help Benavidez. If his opponents know that he’s not going to drain down to make the 168lb limit, and then balloon up to the 190s, they’ll be more willing to fight him.
It won’t matter though if Benavidez gets his hands on the WBC 168lb title. His challengers won’t have a say so. But for Benavidez to face the popular guys like Caleb Plant, Canelo Alvarez, Callum Smith, or Billy Joe Saunders, they’re probably going to want to make sure he’s not coming into the fight as a cruiserweight after he rehydrates.
Benavidez had been scheduled to defend against bottom-ranked #15 WBC Roamer Alexis Angulo (26-2, 22 KOs) on August 15 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Unfortunately, the Former WBC super-middleweight champ Benavidez weighed in 2 3/4 pounds over the 168lb limit at 170 3/4 pounds, which resulted in him being stripped of his WBC title.
One likely reason for why the WBC removed Benavidez from their rankings at 168 is the weight that he put on after he rehydrated for the Angulo fight. Benavidez is said to have packed on a lot of pounds.
David still believes he can make 168
Benavidez talked to doctors in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, about his weight, and they believe that the issues with the pandemic are the result of him failing to make weight for the Angulo match. As such, Benavidez plans on staying at 168.
It would be a good idea for the WBC to have rehydration limits for each weight class to prevent fighters from rehydrating 20 to 30 pounds and ending up two to three divisions above where they’re competing in a lower division.
In Benavidez’s case, if he’s rehydrating to the 180s or 190s, then it’s perhaps time for him to move up to light heavyweight or cruiserweight so that he can compete against guys his size.
The WBC has given Benavidez a #1 ranking at 175, which puts him in the prime position to challenge WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs).
That would be a great fight for boxing fans to see, as Beterbiev and Benavidez are major punchers. However, Benavidez wouldn’t be able to count on using his size to beat Beterbiev like he might be able to do if he were still competing at 168 against smaller fighters.
If Benavidez is forced to move up to 175 to compete against the likes of Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, his career could disappear the same way we saw with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Is Benavidez the next Chavez Jr?
For the boxing fans that remembered Chavez Jr during the early part of his career, he had a considerable size advantage over his opponents when he was still able to make 160. Chavez Jr. captured the WBC middleweight title in 2012 in beating Andy Lee.
However, after Chavez Jr was unable to make 160, he had to move up to 168 and then 175, and he hasn’t had the same success in those weight classes as he did when he competed at 160. In other words, without the size advantage that Chavez Jr had previously over his opposition, he hasn’t been able to dominate in the same as he once did.
The question is, will Benavidez’s career fall apart once he moves up to 175, and he has to deal with fighters like Beterbiev, Bivol, Gilberto Ramirez, and Joshua Buatsi?
If Canelo gets his hands on the WBC 168-lb title, it’s highly unlikely that he’ll agree to fight Benavidez without a strict rehydration limit.
Benavidez obviously would love to fight Canelo, but it’s not realistic that the Mexican star will agree to fight him if he’s not sure how much weight he’s going to pack on after he rehydrates.
If Benavidez is as heavy as he was after rehydrating for the Angulo fight, Canelo will be beaten on the size along rather than talent.
For Benavidez, his weight problems may scare away all the fighters that he wants to face at 168. He’s interested in battling Canelo, Caleb Plant, Daniel Jacobs, Callum Smith, and Billy Joe Saunders. But will any of those guys want to fight Benavidez if they’re not sure about whether he’s going to rehydrate to 195 lbs on the night of the fight?
Can Benavidez dominate in the 175-lb division?
It’s one thing for those guys to compete with a guy that has rehydrated into the 170s, but it’s another thing if they’re almost 200 pounds on the night.
It would be shocking for Benavidez to get any of those two fighters to face him after his latest weight problems, which is why he should think about going up to 175.
In the 175lb weight class, Benavidez won’t have to worry about getting the top guys like Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs), Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs), and Buatsi to fight him because he’ll roughly be the same size as them. If Benavidez rehydrates to 195, he might even be a little bit bigger than them.
Benavidez wanting to move back down to 168 is understandable, as he knows he’ll do in the super middleweight division. With Benavidez’s size advantage and his ability to cut weight, he can dominate against his smaller opposition, as saw recently in his 10th round stoppage victory over the much lower Roamer Angulo.
What happens if Benavidez moves up to 175 and has to compete against Beterbiev, Bivol, Ramirez, or Buatis. Will Benavidez do well against those fighters? I doubt it.