Zab Judah shared his initial thoughts on David Benavidez vs. Dmitry Bivol, who could fight for the undisputed lightweight heavyweight title later this year.

Both sides have already held preliminary talks about a potential meeting in which Bivol would become a two-time undisputed champion.

The Russian won all four 175-pound world titles in February 2025, exacting revenge on Artur Beterbiev by majority vote.

He then vacated the WBC belt to undergo back surgery and recover, but is currently preparing for his mandatory title defense against Michael Eifert on May 30.

Meanwhile, Benavidez had already been promoted from “interim” to full WBC champion moving up to cruiserweight and defeating Gilberto Ramirez last Saturday.

A sixth-round stoppage allowed him to win the WBO and WBA 200-pound titles, becoming a three-division world champion, but the 29-year-old now appears to be considering a return to a lighter weight.

Even before his last appearance, Benavidez’s team began considering a fight with the man who easily defeated Canelo Alvarez and Ramirez in 2022.

But despite Bivol’s dominant points victory over his latest victim, Judah said MillCity Boxing that he sees Benavidez holding the 35-year-old back in a similar manner to how he did against Ramirez.

“It’s a good fight – I like it. I’ll say the same: another fight [Benavidez] stopping. I predict the same [as the Ramirez stoppage].

“David Benavidez has his own style of boxing; he is the first fighter we know who plays this style. He has mastered it.

“So there’s no real defense for this style yet. Until people learn this style completely, you won’t know how to defend against it.”

While Judah is an compelling observation, many would argue that Benavidez’s energetic style can at least be tested by Bivol’s excellent footwork. Fans hope to find out soon.

Boxing legend Frank Bruno shared his thoughts on this weekend’s WBO heavyweight title fight between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois.

Many fans expect this fight to go the distance, and it is aptly advertised as “Don’t Blink.” Despite becoming the IBF heavyweight champion in 2024, Dubois has never fought beyond the 10th round in his 25 career fights, knocking out all but one in his 22 wins.

On Saturday, he will once again fight for the title with another powerful boxer, after he lost the crown to Oleksandr Usyk in July last year.

In Manchester, Dubois will face Wardley, who is undefeated and has never fallen. The Ipswich fan favorite has also won all but one of his competitions over the distance, but has reached round 10 or later in three of his last four appearances, going the full distance of 12 rounds in his draw with Frazer Clarke.

I’m talking to No secondsformer world heavyweight champion Bruno is looking forward to an intriguing clash between arguably Britain’s two greatest boxers and believes Wardley will defend his WBO title.

“I’m not too sure about that [whether Dubois can drop Wardley] because he’s a very, very tough guy and I wouldn’t want to bet against him. Fabio is a very sedate guy, you can see it in his eyes and also in some of his opponents, one of them has his jaw broken and when he punches you, he makes you breakdance and body popper.

“[Daniel needs to] Meet fire with fire, because he doesn’t go there to play. He drops everything with bad intentions. If you want to fight him, you must have bad intentions too.

If he can keep the Daniel we all know at his best, he’ll knock him out for six, but I don’t think he’ll do that with this guy [Wardley]. This guy is a very unsafe guy, very self-confident and you can tell he desperately wants to do well for himself and will do so using the power he has.

Wardley-Dubois will be the sixth heavyweight title fight to ever take place in Manchester and looks to be the best of them.

The Netflix fight is expected to officially count once talks move from Sphere to MGM Grand

Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao are expected to meet on September 26 in Las Vegas. The rematch for both records will count as an official professional fight.

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Last updated: May 8, 2026 at 3:41 am