David Benavidez On Lemieux Bout- “I Deserve Big Fights”

Coming up next month in another headlining return for Showtime Championship Boxing back in Arizona, former WBC super middleweight champ David Benavidez is ready for a battle with another former world champ in David Lemieux. And, Benavidez made clear to the media Tuesday afternoon that he believes he should only be on boxing’s biggest stages from here on out.

“The main goal for myself is to become unified champion at 168-pounds. It’s not just about me.” Benavidez said.  “I have a lot of fans that support me, and I’m doing it for them. They’ve supported me so much, so I want them to know that I’ve put 110% into training camp every time they come to a fight.”

“I feel like I deserve the biggest fights. I’ve paid my dues and I’ve been here for a long time. But I have plenty of fuel in the gym solely because of how big this fight is.”

I’m very excited to go into this fight against Lemieux, because he’s a guy I’ve watched for a long time and I like his style. We both have similar styles because we go for the knockout. That gets me very excited and motivates me a lot,” Benavidez continued.

“We’re also fighting for the interim title and that makes the stage that much bigger…If you win the interim title that means the next fight has to be for the title. I don’t think it should be any difference in this case. If Canelo Alvarez wants to fight at light heavyweight, then he’s going to have to vacate. It’s only fair.”

Benavidez, 25-0, 22 KOs had to relinquish the WBC title in August 2020 coming off the Covid 19 shutdown of the sport, when he missed weight badly before his bout with  Roamer Angulo. Still, he got the TKO win in that bout and in his next two fights after. That included his win in November, also in Phoenix when he stopped Kyrone Davis in seven rounds.

Meanwhile, the Montreal Native Lemieux isn’t a stranger to the bigger fights himself, having briefly held the IBF title before he lost to unified middleweight champ Gennady Golovkin in 2015 and then, to Billy Joe Saunders in a fight for the vacant WBO crown in December of 2017.

Lemieux at 43-4, with 36 KOs, said Tuesday he has to take advantage of what’s likely his last title shot if he doesn’t win,

“His style of fighting – he comes to fight – there’s no messing around with him. That’s my style too. Two bulls going in there and may the best man win this title. We want that WBC belt around my waste and I’m planning on having it on fight night.

I don’t want to lose this opportunity. I know Benavídez is a great fighter. I’m going to work very hard and bring the best that David Lemieux can bring. I’m leaving with the WBC title on fight night.”

Benavidez-Lemieux will be live on Showtime Saturday, May 21 from Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona in a Premier Boxing Champions event.

The Showitme Championship Boxing telecast begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT