David Benavidez Maps Out Multi-Division Campaign Ending With Andy Ruiz at Heavyweight
David Benavidez and his father lay out an ambitious plan through cruiserweight and light heavyweight before a potential heavyweight showdown with Andy Ruiz Jr.
David Benavidez is thinking bigger than super middleweight. The unbeaten Mexican-American star and his father Jose Benavidez Sr. have outlined a multi-division campaign that would take him through cruiserweight and light heavyweight before an eventual heavyweight debut against former unified champion Andy Ruiz Jr.
Jose Benavidez Sr. told ProBox TV that the plan starts with cruiserweight fights against Michal Cieslak and WBO champion Jai Opetaia, then moves to light heavyweight for a crack at Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev. After that comes the big one. "We would love to make a fight with Andy Ruiz," the elder Benavidez said. "Those are the fights that I think are very possible to make."
He also acknowledged the scale of the ambition, calling the path "daydreaming" in the same interview. The practical hurdles are significant. Benavidez currently fights at 168 pounds and the proposed route would require roughly 25-pound weight swings between divisions, a physical toll that historically degrades hand speed and volume.
The Ruiz target raises questions, per Boxing News 24. Ruiz is barely six feet tall and recently lost to Damian Knyba after a two-year layoff from the sport. By the time this scenario could realistically play out, Ruiz would be pushing 40. The selection appears to prioritize name value over competitive danger.
Still, Benavidez has earned the right to dream. He is one of the most avoided fighters in boxing, a pressure machine with genuine power who has struggled to land the marquee fights at 168 that his talent warrants. If the road to legacy runs through three divisions and a fading heavyweight, the Benavidez camp is willing to take the scenic route.
I love the ambition and I do not believe a word of the plan. Cieslak, Opetaia, then Bivol or Beterbiev, then Andy Ruiz at heavyweight. Benavidez Sr. called it daydreaming himself, and he is right. Twenty-five pound swings between divisions do things to hand speed and volume that you cannot train around.
The Ruiz part is the tell. Ruiz is barely six feet, just lost to Knyba after a two-year layoff, and he would be pushing 40 by the time this happens. That is a name pick, not a challenge pick. If you want the heavyweight dream, go get somebody who can actually hurt you.
Here is what I would actually want: Benavidez against Opetaia at cruiserweight. That is a real fight with a real cruiserweight champion, and it would tell us more about how his pressure travels than a nostalgia bout ever could. Benavidez is one of the most avoided fighters in the sport. He should not be doing the avoiding.
