By Matt Lieberman: Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing says there’s no way possible for former two-time WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez to come down to 160 to take on WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo for his belt. Hearn states that Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs) is too big to cut that much weight to take on the unbeaten Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs).
Earlier this week, Benavidez told Little Giant Boxing in an interview that he might try and move down to 160 in an attempt to challenge Jermall.
Benavidez might have been kidding
David Benavidez likely wasn’t serious when he made his comment about coming down to 160. He knows he wouldn’t be given a fight with Jermall, and he’d end up spinning his wheels fighting the low-level opposition in the WBC’s top 15.
There would be no one for Benavidez to fight while waiting for the WBC to order Charlo to give him a crack at his title.
We’re talking years for that process to play out because Charlo would likely delay the fight as long as possible in hopes that Benavidez would give up and return to the 168-lb division.
Hearn wants pressure put on Jermall
Instead of the boxing media talking about a fight that can never happen at 160 between Jermall and Benavidez, Hearn wants the conversation to be about a makeable unification clash between WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade and Jermall.
It’s an empty pipe dream on Hearn’s part in his hope that Jermall will ever agree to fight Andrade. There’s no chance that Charlo will take that fight because he’s not a risk-taker, and he’s shown zero interest in facing Andrade.
Jermall is making good money fighting easy opposition as the WBC 160-lb champion, and he’s not going to spoil that.
Andrade (30-0, 18 KOs) wants the fight with Charlo, and he’s been consistently calling him out for well over a year with no luck. However, there’s not much interest from the boxing public in a fight between Charlo and Andrade.
That is because Andrade isn’t popular enough to create demand from fans in a unification bout against Charlo. Although Demetrius is a former two-division world champion and a 2008 U.S Olympian, his 13-year professional career resume is weak.
He’s been matched in the same way Jermall and Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis have been by his promoters, steered around talented fighters, and put in with lesser guys. As a result, Andrade isn’t super popular, and neither, of course, is Jermall.
Hearn says Benavidez can’t make 160
“Benavidez is going to come down to 160? Is he going to cut a leg off?” said Eddie Hearn to DAZN Boxing Show.
“He struggles to make 168. There’s no way David Benavidez will come down to 160 lbs. Listen, David Benavidez is a great fighter, a fun fighter, and talented, but he ain’t coming down to 160.
“Can we stop having these conversations about anyone other than Jermall Charlo against Demetrius Andrade?
“I don’t know why everybody continues to give him [Jermall] a pass by not [asking him why isn’t he fighting Andrade].
“You got two American middleweight world champions [Andrade and Charlo], both tremendous fighters,” said Hearn.
Eddie is correct about Benavidez being too big to move down to 160 because he’s barely 168 as it is.
I mean, Benavidez lost his WBC super-middleweight title in August of last year when he weighed in over the limit at 170 3/4 lbs for his title defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo.
Benavidez would like for Jermall to fight him, but this is a guy who seems content with the easy paydays he’s getting on Showtime to defend his WBC belt against soft opposition.
It’s understandable why Jermall wouldn’t want to fight Benavidez. There’s too much risk for Jermall in taking that fight.
Yes, the payday would be good for Jermall in a fight against Benavidez, but it would likely wreck the smaller, easier million paydays for him against his weak challengers at 160.
Charlo has got a good thing going right now, facing mediocre opposition as the WBC middleweight champion. The money is good, and he’s an excellent revenue stream for his promoters.
Jermall’s recent fights at 160:
- Juan Macias Montiel
- Brandon Adams
- Dennis Hogan
- Sergiy Derevyanchenko
- Hugo Centeno
- Jorge Sebastian Heiland
- Matt Korobov