Tag: Avni Yildirim

David Benavidez has his opponent for April 18, Roamer Alexis Angulo: report

David Benavidez is scheduled to face Roamer Alexis Angulo (26-1, 22 KOs) on April 18 at Arizona Federal Theater in Phoenix on Showtime.

It looks as if David Benavidez is going home for the first defense of a super middleweight title he regained.

Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs) is scheduled to face Roamer Alexis Angulo (26-1, 22 KOs) on April 18 at Arizona Federal Theater in downtown Phoenix on Showtime, The Athletic is reporting.

Angulo replaces Caleb Truax as the challenger for the 168-pound belt held by Benavidez, who came back from a six-month suspension for a positive cocaine test on September 29 with a unanimous decision over Anthony Dirrell on a card featuring welterweight Errol Spence Jr.’s victory over Shawn Porter.

Angulo, of Colombia, is the third opponent to move into the mandatory challenger’s spot for the belt. Initially, Avni Yildirim, of Turkey, was in line to fight the 23-year-old Benavidez. But he withdrew because of a shoulder injury.

Benavidez, the younger brother of former junior welterweight champion Jose Benavidez Jr., grew up in Phoenix. He fought three fights in his hometown in 2015 after making his professional debut in Mexico.

The Benavidez-featured card will be the first boxing event at the downtown Phoenix theater in several years. Acelino Freitas beat Daniel Attah in a junior lightweight title defense there in June 2002 when it was named Dodge Theater. Former welterweight champion Antonio Margarito stopped Hercules Kyvelos there on HBO in January 2004. Late Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward promoted a series of cards there in 2005.

Report: Caleb Truax pulls out of fight with David Benavidez

Caleb Truax reportedly has pulled out of a tentative matchup with super middleweight titleholder David Benavidez.

David Benavidez reportedly is in need of an opponent again.

The super middleweight titleholder was tentatively set to defend his belt against Caleb Truax, possibly on April 18, according to reports. However, according to ESPN, Truax has pulled out of the fight. No explanation was reported.

Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs) is coming off an impressive ninth-round stoppage of Anthony Dirrell in September, which allowed him to regain the belt stripped from him when he tested positive for cocaine.

The Arizonan was supposed to make a mandatory defense against Avni Yildirim but Yildirim was injured, which gave Benavidez the opportunity to face someone of his choice.

Benavidez is expected to face fellow titleholder Caleb Plant as soon as this year but it’s too early for that showdown.

Caleb Plant will continue to push for a showdown with David Benavidez

Caleb Plant said he wants to unify the 168-pound titles, which is why he called out David Benavidez after his title defense Saturday.

Editor’s note: This story was originally posted on Tennessean.com.

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Moments after successfully defending his super middleweight title for the second time, Nashville’s Caleb Plant made it clear Saturday who he wants to fight next: undefeated David Benavidez, who also holds a 168-pound belt.

The 27-year-old Plant (20-0, 12 KOs) retained his title by a 10th-round technical knockout against mandatory challenger Vincent Feigenbutz (31-3, 28 KOs) of Germany at Bridgestone Arena.

Plant has made it clear his goal is to unify the title, which is why he called out Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs). In fact, Plant said he first let Benavidez know he wanted a fight when Benavidez won the title two years ago from Monday.

Caleb Plant (left) has his eye on title unification after stopping Vincent Feigenbutz on Saturday in Nashville. Brett Carlsen / Getty Images

“I want to unify, I want that fight with David Benavidez,” Plant said. “When he won that world title against Ronald Gavril (Feb. 17, 2018) I was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Before he could even get to the bottom of the stairs, I was standing there asking him, ‘When are we going to make this happen?’

“I don’t see too many other fighters standing at the bottom of the stairs right after somebody wins saying, ‘Hey, when are we going to get it cracking?'”

Benavidez has a mandatory defense coming up in the spring against Avni Yildirim. Plant said he hopes to fight at least once more this year.

Plant realizes it may be too soon for a fight to come together with Benavidez but said he will continue to push for it.

“I’ve been wanting that, I’ve been pushing for that,” he said. “I know we’re both young in our career. I know they’re trying to build us up and turn that into a bigger fight, but I’m a fighter. There ain’t no sense in waiting.”

Benavidez responded to Plant on Instagram after Plant’s win Saturday and seemed to be just as eager to fight.

“Let’s get this done don’t want to keep the fans waiting,” Benavidez posted.

Benavidez’s last fight was on Sept. 28, when he knocked out Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round in Los Angeles. Benavidez regained his title in that fight. He had been stripped of it after testing positive for cocaine in 2018.

Read more:

Caleb Plant stops Vincent Feigenbutz in 10th round of hometown debut

David Benavidez’s dream opponent? Canelo Alvarez

David Benavidez wants to clean out the 168-pound division and then face Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.

David Benavidez’s immediate goal is to get super middleweight rival Caleb Plant into the ring for a title-unification showdown. And his plan is to beat all the top 168-pounders, thus taking control of the division.

He also has a dream opponent, though: Canelo Alvarez.

“One of my dreams … if I win all the belts … the dream match for me would be Canelo [Alvarez],” Benavidez told The PBC Podcast. “But I don’t really speak on that fight too much because everybody is calling out Canelo now. I feel what I got to do now [is] beat everybody. I gotta make the people want that fight. …

“And if the people want that fight, I’m pretty sure it can be made. I feel like it’s maybe three years down in the future, but that’s definitely my main goal. But I still have a lot of great fighters to go through.”

Benavidez (22-0, 19 KOs) regained a version of the 168-pound title by stopping a bloodied Anthony Dirrell in nine rounds this past September.

The 23-year-old Arizonan expects to face No. 1 contender Avni Yildirim next, although nothing is set. And he mentioned British titleholders Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders as possible opponents.

What about Plant, with whom Benavidez has developed a contentious relationship on-line and beyond? That’s the one he wants most. And he hopes the fight can be made late this year or early next year.

“I feel like that’s the fight that’s going to define my career and that’s really what I want,” he said. “… This the fight I think about most. … I think about it all day, before I go to sleep. This is something I want. Just so I can prove I’m the best super middleweight in the world.”

David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant unification in 2020? Fuggedaboutit

Don’t hold your breathe for seeing a Caleb Plant vs. David Benavidez super middleweight unification in 2020.

Titleholders David Benavidez and Caleb Plant may be the best American super middleweights today, but don’t expect them to face each other anytime soon. As in, not in 2020.

Benavidez handler Sampson Lewkowicz shut down that possibility in a recent interview.

“A 2020 unification? I don’t believe so,” Lewkowicz told Boxing Junkie. “I believe we need more time”

In other words, the fight needs to marinate, stew, percolate – you get the point – until it reaches a point in which demand exceeds supply. Maximizing the money that the fight could produce for the fighters is Lewkowicz’s priority. 

“I believe two of the best American super middleweights are supposed to be on pay-per-view and either one is not ready for that right now,” he said.

Hopefully, that doesn’t mean the fighters will face anonymous journeymen for the next 12 months or so. Plant is scheduled to fight an unknown German super middleweight named Vincent Feigenbutz on Feb. 15 in his hometown of Nashville.

Benavidez’s next fight has not been set, although Lewkowicz noted that he is trying to negotiate something for “March, maybe April.” It won’t involve super middleweight contender Avani Yildirim, who was expected to take on Benavidez after his controversial technical loss to Anthony Dirrell last February.

“(Yildirim) is not ready, so we’re trying to work out the details,” Lewkowicz said. “I don’t know if Yildirim got hurt. I don’t know, that’s what I heard.”

Lewkowicz’s other current titleholder is newly crowned Dominican junior middleweight Jeison Rosario, who upset Julian Williams on Jan. 18.