David Benavidez’s victory over Gilberto Ramirez got the boxing world talking about whether a potential history-making heavyweight title win could be on the cards, and now top-rated trainer Robert Garcia has shared his thoughts on the debate.
Having ruled at both super-middleweight and light-heavyweight, Benavidez made the 25lbs leap up to cruiserweight and made easy work of unified WBO and WBA champion, Ramirez, halting the Mexican in round six.
As a result, many fans are questioning whether Benavidez should ditch his plans of returning to light heavyweight and possibly venture all the way up to heavyweight to pursue a showdown with current unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Should he claim heavyweight gold, Benavidez would join Roy Jones Jr as just the second man to have truly reigned at super-middleweight and heavyweight, not including James Toney’s heavyweight title win, which was subsequently ruled as a no-contest due to a failed drugs test. ‘The Mexican Monster’ is currently the only man to have won titles at 168, 175 and 200lbs.
Speaking to ES News, Garcia, who has trained the likes of Anthony Joshua, Jesse Rodriguez and Nonito Donaire, stated his belief that ‘The Mexican Monster’ would be able to dethrone Usyk in two years.
“I think that Benavidez beats Usyk two years from now. [Usyk is nearly 40 already,] so imagine two years from now, Benavidez beats him.”
Whether or not Usyk sticks around that long remains to be seen. The two-weight undisputed champion fights kickboxer Rico Verhoeven this month, and has said he will compete twice more before seriously considering retirement.
With plenty of contenders already in the division and worthy of a shot at the Ukrainian, the Benavidez bout seems a long way off, not least because Benavidez himself seems intent, for now, on dropping back down rather than moving up further.
Benavidez does plan to make a move to the top division at one stage, however, and if Garcia believes he can beat someone as talented as Usyk, even with age playing a factor, he will likely back him against many other heavyweights.
