David Benavidez is eager to compete in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed light heavyweight championship, but his contract constraints may prevent him from fighting over there.
Contractual Limitations Prevent Big Payday
Benavidez would like to fight the winner of the June 1st contest between WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol and IBF/WBC/WBO champ Artur Beterbiev in Saudi Arabia, but his contract prevents him from doing so.
If Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) can’t fight in Saudi Arabia, he won’t be able to participate in the massive money that Beterbiev & Bivol are getting fighting in that country.
The winner of their fight would need to go to another country to fight Benavidez, 27; the Saudis might not pay for that if it’s not in their territory.
The Purpose Behind the Move to 175
It would defeat the whole purpose of Benavidez going up to 175 if he can’t pick up a big payday fighting in Saudi Arabia.
Facing Beterbiev or Bivol in the U.S or Canada wouldn’t be a PPV-worthy fight unless it was packaged with a big star, Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, in the main event. Benavidez might as well stay at 168 if he can’t get high dough for fighting the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol fight for the four belts at 175.
Benavidez still needs to beat Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 22nd in their WBC 175-lb title eliminator if he’s going to have a chance to fight for the undisputed championship against the Beterbiev vs. Bivol winner.
Hope Remains for Saudi Showdown
“Personally, I can’t do that because of the way my contract is set up. I can’t mess with them people because obviously, I can only work with my own promoter,” said David Benavidez to the Cigar Talk YouTube channel when asked if he can fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight in Saudi Arabia.
“They said if they’re willing to make that fight happen and obviously, it’s an enormous amount of money, it could happen. I do respect the whole movement they got going over there, the Saudis.
“They’ve been putting on some great fights. Not only great fights. They’ve been putting on great events. I would definitely like to be a part of that one day, and it looks like it might happen. So, I’m very excited,” Benavidez said about fighting in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed championship.
“That’s huge because we get to reach a way bigger audience,” said Benavidez about fighting now on Amazon Prime. “I feel like the other thing that came out of this that nobody is talking about is that the security system for the PPVs.
“Amazon, I don’t think they want to miss out on that money. So, I think its going to be harder to stream, so that helps all the fighters to get PPV points,” said Benavidez.
