It appears we could finally have a fight between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade for the interim WBC super middleweight title. Julius Julianis, a boxing insider, announced on his X account today, that the bout will happen on Showtime pay-per-view on Friday, November 24th, which is better known as Black Friday, and the day after Thanksgiving day.
ProBox TV News reached out to a source close to the situation, who told ProBox TV News that the deal is not done and that the date is not confirmed at the present time. As unspecified aspects of the fight are causing a hold-up in the finalization of the bout currently.
If the bout were to happen let's look at what makes this fight interesting.
David Benavidez
Benavidez enters the fight with a record 27-0 and 23 knockouts and currently holds the interim WBC title in the super middleweight division, which is a secondary title to the historically significant WBC super middleweight title that Canelo Alvarez holds. Alvarez, whom Benavidez targeted after his decision win over Caleb Plant in March on pay-per-view, was hoping to face Canelo Alvarez in the fall - but Alvarez opted to face Jermell Charlo on September 30th, on Showtime pay-per-view. Alvarez does have a three-fight deal, and a win here gets Benavidez one step closer to that goal of fighting the greatest super middleweight since Andre Ward and Canelo Alvarez, who is the undisputed super middleweight world champion.
Benavidez is a two-time WBC super middleweight world champion but has seen a recreational drug failure strip him of his title, along with an issue at the scale being the reason he lost it a second time, because of this Benavidez was unable to force a fight with Canelo, as he was no longer the champion.
Benavidez beating Caleb Plant was one of his first world-class wins at the top of the division, but most feel that Demetrius Andrade, a former U.S. Olympian and two-division world champion represents a different type of challenge.
This is a big moment to show the world how 'ready' Benavidez is for Canelo
Demetrius Andrade
Demetrius Andrade's career has been frustrating. Largely avoided for his whole career, now in his mid-30s, the seasoned veteran with a perfect record of 32-0 and 19 knockouts will finally get the big fight he has been looking for. Despite his impeccable credentials.
Andrade's journey mirrors that of Rodney Dangerfield, a talented comedian, who simply never got the respect of his peers or at least that is what he felt, despite being a talented comic. Andrade has held titles at 154 and 160-pound divisions and was possibly the best fighter in those divisions, yet a difficult fighting style that is not fan-friendly has seen big names opt to go in different directions. A prime example was Jaime Munguia was Andrade's mandatory for quite some time when Andrade held the world title in the middleweight division, yet the fight never was made.
In January, Andrade made his foray into the super middleweight division under the PBC banner, as he defeated Demond Nicholson with ease over ten rounds. Prior to that bout, Andrade had been working with Matchroom Boxing, but the failure of Andrade to land a Canelo Alvarez fight seemed to prompt Andrade to go in a different direction.
Fighting in his third weight class, Andrade ambitions leading into this fight are similar to Benavidez's as well. They both want to impress to land a Canelo Alvarez fight. An underlying thing in this fight for Andrade is that this will be the fight that has the most viewership making his bout against Benavidez a make-or-break moment. It's a chance for Andrade to transcend his past frustrations and step into the limelight as the star with one big performance.
The Canelo Sweepstakes
As hinted at prior what is at stake is that Canelo Alvarez now seemingly has a three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions with his first fight against Jermell Charlo, and then who knows what comes after. If the result of this fight is iconic or enjoyable - fans will call for the winner to fight Canelo Alvarez, and that becomes an in-house PBC fight - and as we have seen this year PBC is having no issues making big fights.
The fight serves as a litmus test of Benavidez's mettle and determination, as well as a barometer of the talent of Andrade. Both have passionate fans or supporters who believe that either fighter could challenge Canelo, and this fight will add much-needed context to both.
In the broader context of the boxing landscape, the bout also serves as another pay-per-view event, continuing the trend of big fights, but also making boxing a 'country club' requiring paywall after paywall to get access to great fights.
