Benavidez Gains WBC Light Heavyweight Title as Bivol Bows Out to Chase Beterbiev Trilogy

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed today that interim 175-lb champion David Benavidez is the new light heavyweight belt-holder after Dmitry Bivol relinquished his title with the WBC’s organization.

A WBC-ordered purse bid was scheduled for tomorrow for Bivol’s mandatory fight with Benavidez, but Dmitry chose to relinquish his belt so that he could participate in a trilogy match with Artur Beterbiev.

The New King

Benavidez would have preferred winning the WBC 175-lb title the traditional way by challenging Bivol for it, but what can do if didn’t want to fight him. He wasn’t going to just idly by, letting Bivol put him on ice while he fights Beterbiev again. There would be no guarantees that the winner of the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 fight would have fought him. They could have chosen to go for a fourth fight or vacate, placing Benavidez right where he is now.

Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) reportedly would have preferred to keep his WBC belt, but the WBC forced his hand by ordering him to face ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez next. It wouldn’t have been difficult for Bivol to hold off on his trilogy match with Artur, 40, but the Saudis wanted that one next.

Why Bivol Vacated

Also, Dmitry defending his WBC belt against Benavidez wouldn’t have been a sure win. If it were a piece of cake, Bivol would have likely been given the green light to face Benavidez, then fight the trilogy with Beterbiev (21-1, 20 KOs) after.

There was too much of a chance that Bivol would lose and get beaten quite badly by Benavidez, which would drain what little interest the boxing public still has in seeing the trilogy.

Given the rumored 55K PPV buys on DAZN from U.S fans in the second Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 fight on February 22nd, it would have been foolhardy for Dmitry to defend his WBC title against David Benavidez. He’d have lost the fight and then a trilogy with Beterbiev wouldn’t be worth dirt.

They could put it on PPV, and they’d be lucky to bring in 20K buys Stateside. Fans are tired of that boring fight anyway, but they’d be really sick of it if Benavidez sent Bivol to the next galaxy.

Next Up

We’ll see who he faces now that Benavidez is the new WBC light heavyweight champion. These are some of the options:

– Callum Smith
– David Morrell: *Rematch
– Anthony Yarde
– Wily Hutchinson
– Lyndon Arthur
– Edgar Berlanga: *If he chooses to move up