David Benavidez is moving up 25 kilos to challenge Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, but the larger query is whether or not he’s taking the mistaken fight on the mistaken time.
Click Here To Watch Benavidez vs. Zurdo and Inoue vs. Nakatini LIVE!
That was the angle raised by Manouk Akopyan, who compared the move to the type of misstep that cost Canelo Alvarez against Dmitry Bivol.
Benavidez weighed 196.8 kilos on Friday for his cruiserweight debut, coming in comfortably under the 200-pound limit. Ramirez, the established titleholder at the load, hit the mark exactly at 200.
The unbeaten Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) has built his profession at super middleweight and light-weight heavyweight, using pressure and volume to interrupt opponents down. Moving as much as cruiserweight gives him a likelihood to win a title in a 3rd division, however it also puts him in with a naturally greater opponent who has already settled into the load.
Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs) has won all 4 of his fights since moving as much as cruiserweight in 2023. The Mexican southpaw’s only defeat got here against Bivol, and he now enters Saturday’s bout holding the WBA and WBO titles.
Despite the dimensions jump, Benavidez is listed as a heavy favorite by DraftKings, with odds near 4-1. That reflects confidence in his pace and physical style carrying up in weight, even against a full-sized cruiserweight.
If we have a look at those performances against David Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he looked beatable. Benavidez survived those fights, but he didn’t dominate them the way in which he did at 168.
It appears like Benavidez is chasing greatness so hard that he is likely to be ignoring his physical limits. Moving from 168 to 175 was one thing, but 200 is a special sport. If he couldn’t bully Morrell without looking like a Frankenstein’s monster by the top, attempting to bully a unified cruiserweight champion who’s 6’2″ and savvy is likely to be a bridge too far.
The chances being 4-1 feels more like a tribute to his name value than a mirrored image of the particular physical match-up. He might discover the hard way that “The Mexican Monster” has a ceiling, and it is likely to be exactly 190 kilos.
Armando Resendiz weighed 167 kilos for his first defense of the WBA super middleweight title, while Jaime Munguia got here in at 167.4 at today’s weigh-in.
Resendiz (16-2, 11 KOs) defends against Munguia (45-2, 35 KOs) within the predominant support bout, as the cardboard streams on Amazon Prime Video and DAZN pay-per-view in america.
Last Updated on 2026/05/01 at 3:07 PM