WBC Approves David Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk Fight

Earlier today, Ernesto Amador from No Puedes Jugar Boxeo broke the news that David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) would be moving up in weight to fight former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) for the interim WBC light heavyweight title in June. This news was then followed up by the WBC, who put out the following statement:

“The World Boxing Council has approved the fight between American David Benavidez (28-0-0, 24 Ko’s) and Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1-0, 16 Ko’s) for the WBC interim light heavyweight title. Benavidez comes into this fight after successfully defending his WBC interim super middleweight title by technically knocking out Demetrius Andrade in a stellar performance last November.”

“For his part, Gvozdyk, who was already world champion at 175 pounds, had achieved three important victories in 2023 since he was defeated by current champion Artur Beterbiev in 2019. More information regarding this absolutely terrific fight will be released in the coming days. We wish both warriors the Best of Luck.”

After reaching out to someone inside Team Benavidez, no contracts have been signed yet, which also means there isn’t a venue or set date for the proposed light heavyweight showdown. The WBC has done this in the past, where they approved a matchup, but there have been times the fight did not come to fruition, like the Canelo vs LLunga Makubu fight.

Benavidez has been in the Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez sweepstakes, but with the super middleweight king mulling over his options, Benavidez appears to have moved on so that his career doesn’t stall. If this fight were to happen, Benavidez could potentially maintain mandatory status in both weight classes until he figures out his future.

Gvozdyk has been on the comeback trail after hanging up the gloves for over three years when current unified champ Artur Beterbiev brutally stopped him in October 2019. Gvozdyk was spotted in Canelo’s training camp recently, so this could be Canelo getting a feel of what Benavidez has to offer against someone he’s recently worked with.

FightsATW will continue to monitor this story as it develops and we hear from Team Benavidez.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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