David Benavidez says His Excellency Turki Alalshikh wanted him to fight on the August 3rd card in Los Angeles and to go down to 160 to face Terence Crawford.
Weight Limit and PBC Contract Prove a Roadblock
The former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez told Alalshikh that he couldn’t get down to 160 for the Crawford fight. He’s with PBC and plans to fight for the WBC interim light heavyweight title against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
Benavidez is cruiserweight-sized and it’s going to be hard enough for him to get down to 175 for his fight against Gvozdyk.
If Benavidez wins that fight, he could possibly get the winner of the June 1st match between 175-lb champions Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Crawford’s Quest for Canelo
Crawford wants to fight for the undisputed super middleweight championship against Canelo Alvarez, and he needs a win over one of the top fighters at 168 to legitimize him as a valid option. Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) would be perfect, but obviously not if he had to boil down to 160.
Crawford will fight for the WBA 154-lb title on the August 3rd card, and he plans to become undisputed in that weight class.
If Crawford moves up to 168 if he accomplishes his goal at 154, that would open the door for a possible fight against Benavidez if he wants to prove himself as being worthy of a title shot against Canelo. Benavidez would be coming back down from 175 if that fight happens.
Benavidez on the Offer and Crawford
“I had talked to Turki. They had wanted me to fight in August. I told them, ‘I’m with PBC. We got this big card [on June 15th].’ So, I think that was just the conversation of opening the doors that this might be a reality that we could make this happen. We never got to that point,” said Benavidez to Sean Zittel when asked who the opponent His Excellency had in mind for him to fight on the August 3rd card.
“He did mention to me one fighter. He wanted me to go down to 160 and fight Crawford. I said, ‘Bro, I cannot do that.’
“If I was able to make 160, that would be amazing, but I can’t. I don’t remember the last time I weighed 160. I would love to share the ring with him but not at 160,” said Benavidez about Crawford.
