David Benavidez and David Lemieux on Friday easily made weight for their scheduled 12-round super middleweight bout Saturday in Glendale, Arizona, near Benavidez’s hometown of Phoenix.
Benavidez weighed 166.4 pounds, 1.6 below the division limit and his lightest since he came in at 166.0 for his fight against Sherali Mamadjanov in 2017.
Lemieux weighed 166.2. This will be the former middleweight titleholder’s fourth fight as a full-fledged super middleweight.
Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) and Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) will be fighting for the WBC “interim” 168-pound title, which means the winner will be a step close to shot at the sanctioning body’s world title.
Canelo Alvarez is the champion.
The fighters offered the final pre-fight comments after they were weighed.
“I’m just excited to be here in front of all my fans, all the people that support me,” Benavidez said. “This fight definitely will be for the fans. This fight is not going to go the distance. There’s going to be a knockout. I’m going to walk away with that title again.”
He was asked what might come next if he wins Saturday.
“I put everything into this training camp,” he said. “I only take it one fight at a time. My mind and my focus is 100 percent on David Lemieux. So we’re just going to get in there and take care of this fight, and we’ll see what comes after.”
Said Lemieux: “I’m extremely happy be in Phoenix right now and to be in the main even for this fight and fight in front of all these people. I’m here to give the fans a great fight, a great show. Benavidez is a hell of fighter but I’m here to take that belt away.”
Here are the weigh-in results of the other featured fights:
- Yoelvis Gomez (156.6) vs. Jorge Cota (156.4), junior middleweights, 10 rounds.
- Luis Nunez (126.0) vs. Jonathan Fierro (125.6), featherweight, 10 rounds.
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