David Benavidez says he hopes a fight can be lined up against former undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in 2026.
Why 2026 Might Be Too Late
The downside of the Beterbiev-Benavidez fight happening next year is that Beterbiev turns 41 on January 21. Delaying a battle between them will work against Artur.
Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) states that he would have fought Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) on November 22nd, but he wasn’t offered the fight. Instead, he’ll be defending his WBC light heavyweight title against Anthony Yarde in the main event.
There’s not a lot of fan interest in that fight, as Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) has already been knocked out in the two previous world title fights against Sergey Kovalev and Beterbiev. Using Yarde as a world title challenger is a bad idea. It would be okay if this were an undercard fight, but not for a headliner.
Beterbiev will be fighting on the undercard against little-known Deon Nicholson (22-1, 18 KOs) in a scheduled 12-round bout on the Ring IV: Night of the Champions event.
“I Wasn’t Offered Beterbiev”
“If I was offered that fight, I would have picked it. I was offered Anthony Yarde. I wasn’t offered Artur Beterbiev,” said David Benavidez to Ring Magazine on X when asked why he chose to fight Anthony Yarde on November 22 rather than Artur Beterbiev, who is scheduled to fight on his undercard.
Benavidez said he also wanted to fight IBF, WBA, and WBO light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol, but he didn’t want to face him. Bivol vacated his WBC title rather than face Benavidez.
“The contract was signed already before they came to an agreement that they [Dmitry Bivol and Beterbiev] weren’t going to fight. So, there was nothing I could do with that. Hopefully, later next year we could get that fight with Beterbiev,” said Benavidez.
If Bivol isn’t going to fight Benavidez, he might as well fight Beterbiev to put on a fight that the fans would want to see early next year.
Dan Ambrose has covered boxing since 2011, offering trusted insight on the sport’s biggest fights.
Last Updated on 10/09/2025
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