David Benavidez's quest for history headlines stacked Mexican Independence Day card in Vegas

(Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy Promotions)

LAS VEGAS – Mexican Independence Day weekend has long been considered the Super Bowl Weekend of Boxing throughout the world, especially in the sport’s de facto capital in Sin City. Legendary names like Floyd Mayweather and Canelo Alvarez have put on career defining performances on this stage, and now David Benavidez looks to do the same by potentially becoming a three-division champion against Gabriel “Zurdo” Ramirez on Saturday night.

Benavidez (31-0-0) is moving up a weight class to take on the WBA and WBO cruiserweight belt holder following dominant performances against David Morrell and Anthony Yarde last year. Zurdo (48-1-0), on the other hand, is looking for a fifth consecutive victory in the division after moving down from light heavyweight following his loss to Dmitry Bivol in November 2022.

Despite the fact that Benavidez currently sits as a -600 favorite at the time of publishing, there are several respected voices in the boxing community that believe Zurdo has a legitimate shot of pulling off the upset. While that doesn’t necessarily mean it will happen, this fight should at the very least be considered one of the more legitimate challenges Benavidez has had to face to this point in his career, despite the fact that it isn’t one of the many hypothetical “white whale” fights that fans have billed him for over the years.

Benavidez knows better than anyone how steep Saturday’s challenge truly is, as he’s spent a considerable amount of time training with and sparring against his now opponent.

“I got five months training in this training camp, but because I knew Zurdo Ramirez is a great fighter,” Benavidez said. “He's a great champion. We've done a lot of rounds with him back then, and I know he's going to come to fight. Big respect to all these guys over here. They're great dudes.

“With that being said, it's time to go to war, and when David Benavidez goes to war, he doesn't shy away from anything. When I see the fire, I put myself in the fire to get the best version out of myself and I'm not scared of nobody, and you guys will see what the Mexican monster is made of this May 2nd.”

For Zurdo, Saturday is a chance to not only prove the oddsmakers wrong but to also cement himself as the premier non-Canelo entity in Mexican boxing. Despite the fact that Zurdo brings a 48-1 record with 30 knockouts into this bout, he’s long been overlooked as someone who deserved a main event billing as significant as Cinco De Mayo in Las Vegas. A win on that stage for the 35-year-old on Saturday night would be vindication he’s spent his whole career looking for.