David Benavidez Will Defend His World Title in November
The World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight world champion, David Benavidez, is preparing for his first title defense. The announcement was made on Thursday by Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and the Saudi Boxing Federation.
His opponent will be Anthony Yarde, in a fight that promises strong emotions. Although the exact date and location of the fight have not yet been confirmed, it is known that it will mark Benavidez’s debut in the Riyadh season.
Benavidez, 28 years old, had been seeking a fight with the undisputed super middleweight champion, Canelo Álvarez. However, due to Álvarez’s lack of interest, Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) decided to move up to the light heavyweight division.
His debut in this category was in June 2024, where he obtained a victory by decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, conquering the interim WBC title. Subsequently, he successfully defended this interim title in February, defeating David Morrell.
Benavidez was promoted to absolute champion after the then undisputed champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted for a third fight with Artur Beterbiev instead of defending the championship against the interim title holder, as requested by the WBC.
Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) will try for the third time to win a world title. The London boxer began his career with an 18-0 record before suffering his first defeat to Sergey Kovalev, when he contested the WBO light heavyweight title in 2019. His second attempt for the world gold was unsuccessful, being knocked out by Beterbiev in January 2023, in a fight for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.
In his last fight, Yarde won by decision against Lyndon Arthur in April, on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn.
