David Benavidez Plans To Return To Super Middleweight Division

David Benavidez picked up a decision win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the weekend as he moved up in weight for the fight.

Benavidez was the favorite despite moving up in weight, but a month before the fight, Benavidez revealed he suffered an injury which nearly forced him out of action.

“I’m just so happy for this moment. About a month ago I had a torn ligament here my hand, it was injured and I got a cut on my eye, but I said, ‘Fuck it, I’m going to keep pushing through. I can’t cancel this event’. That’s the reason I wasn’t throwing so much in this fight, because my hand is messed up, but we still dominated,” Benavidez said (via BoxingScene). “We still won every single round against a great ex-champion and I’m just happy for this victory and just happy to keep pushing forward and keep dominating this light heavyweight division.”

With the win, Benavidez could face the winner of Bivol-Beterbiev, but the undefeated boxer also isn’t ruling a return to the super middleweight division.

“I definitely want to invoke my mandatory right,” Benavidez added. “It’s something that for the past three years is rightfully mine, so like I said, this was the perfect opportunity for me to come up and win another [interim] belt, but I can still make 168 easy so we’re still looking to come back down to 168.”

Ultimately, even though David Benavidez didn’t get a stoppage win, he still was pleased with his performance.

 “My power still felt good but by the third round my hand was already messed up and then I kept trying to use the right hand but that got messed up, too. I dominated the fight,” Benavidez added. “Even with the hand hurting I kept hurting him. I kept hurting him to the body early in the fight, but I was looking for the left hand with my hand kind of open. I couldn’t really do much. I feel it does translate to this weight.”