Overview
- David Benavidez stopped Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez at 2:59 of Round 6 on Saturday in Las Vegas to take the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles and cap a three-division title run.
- Benavidez dropped Ramírez at the end of the fourth round and again in the sixth, where severe swelling around Ramírez’s right eye led the referee to wave it off in the Mexican’s first stoppage defeat.
- Ramírez was taken to a hospital for scans after the fight, and Golden Boy Promotions’ Jane Murcia said he was in good spirits with a swollen eye and no determination of a fracture at that point.
- After the win, Benavidez called out Canelo Álvarez and named Dmitry Bivol as his top target, though recent reports have Álvarez eyeing Christian Mbilli in September and Bivol set for a May 30 defense.
- The unbeaten 29-year-old moved up about 25 pounds for the Cinco de Mayo weekend headliner, a dominant showing that boosts his leverage in big-fight talks as boxing weighs the commercial path forward.