Gilberto Ramirez vs David Benavidez Preview May 2nd, 2026
WBA/WBO Cruiserweight Champion Gilberto Ramirez of Mexico meets unbeaten David Benavidez of Phoenix, Arizona this Saturday, May 2nd. The 12-rounder from Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live on Amazon Prime Video PPV. Benavidez put his WBC and WBA ‘regular’ Light Heavyweight Titles on the line against Anthony Yarde in his last outing in November and stopped him in the seventh round. Benavidez, who is a former WBC Super Middleweight Champion, got up from the canvas in round 11 of his previous bout and pounded out a unanimous decision over former world champion David Morrell. In June, 2024, Benavidez beat former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk of Ukraine via a 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant Interim WBC Title. Ramirez last fought in June when he beat Yuniel Dorticos by a 12-round unanimous decision. Ramirez had beaten Chris Billam-Smith by unanimous decision in November, 2024 to take his WBO Belt after downing Arsen Goulamirian via a wide unanimous decision eight months earlier to capture the WBA Title.
Ramirez vs Benavidez Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Gilberto Ramirez +391
- David Benavidez – 600
My Pick
The 34-year-old Ramirez is a southpaw who became the first Mexican to capture a world super middleweight title when he beat Arthur Abraham via unanimous decision in 2016 for the WBO Belt. He’ll enter the ring with an impressive record of 48-1 with 30 Ko’s with his lone loss coming to Dmitry Bivol by unanimous decision in November, 2022 in a shot at the WBA Super Light Heavyweight Belt. Ramirez stands just under 6-feet-3-inches tall and has a reach of 75 inches. He made his pro debut back in 2009 and has 313 rounds in the bank since.
Ramirez possesses pretty good power in his fists as 62.5 per cent of his wins have been by stoppage, including five of his past nine. He’s a bit of an oddity for such a tall boxer though since he doesn’t always use his height to his advantage. Ramirez often prefers to work his way inside to engage instead of fighting at a safer distance. After beating Abraham, he defended his super middleweight title against Max Bursak and Jesse Hart by unanimous decisions and stopped Habib Ahmed in six rounds.
He then beat Roamer Alexis Angulo by unanimous decision and Jesse Hart by majority decision in a rematch before moving up to light heavyweight to face Tommy Karpency and stopped him after four rounds. He halted Alfonso Lopez for the NABF Light Heavyweight Crown and then decided to vacate the 175 lb division and move up to cruiserweight where he beat Joe Smith by a wide 10-round unanimous decision. Overall, Ramirez has stopped six of his last 13 opponents after going the distance in eight out of 12 at one point.
Some of his other noteworthy wins have been against Sullivan Barrera, Derek Edwards, Fulgencio Zuniga, Junior Talipeau, and Derrick Findley. Ramirez has been successful up to now basically due to a combination of power, skill and aggressiveness but was quite disappointing in his loss to Bivol. He needs to tighten up defensively if he hopes to keep his belts but has displayed a solid chin up to now. However, he may be more effective if he tried to control the distance in his bouts.
The 29-year-old Benavidez won the vacant WBC Super Middleweight Belt in September, 2017 with a split decision over Ronald Gavril even though he was dropped in the 12th round. He then beat Gavril by unanimous decision in a rematch five months later. He sat out for a year after testing positive for cocaine use and returned in March, 2019 with a second-round stoppage of J’Leon Love. Benavidez then regained the middleweight title by stopping Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round in September, 2019.
He lost it again though, this time on the weigh scale in August, 2020 against Roamer Alexis Angulo when he came in 2.8 lbs overweight. However, he still took care of Angulo by stopping him after 10 rounds. He picked up the Interim WBC Belt in May, 2022 when he halted former world champion David Lemieux in the third round and defended it against Caleb Plant via a 12-round unanimous decision and then stopped Demetrius Andrade after six rounds in November, 2023.
Benavidez is a hard-hitter who turned pro in 2013 after a short 15-0 amateur career. He’s boxed 167 rounds since and won the vacant NABF Junior Light Heavyweight Title in April, 2015 with a first-round TKO of Rollin Williams. He enters the match with a perfect record of 31-0 with 25 Ko’s and owns quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 80.6 per cent. Gavril took him the distance in both of their fights but he then won six in a row by stoppage before Plant took him the distance.
Benavidez also likes to slug it out and that means he’s not really the hardest guy to hit either, which makes him a very fan-friendly fighter. He also appears to have a pretty sturdy chin though even though Gavril and Morrell both temporarily decked him. Benavidez stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a reach of 74.5 inches so gives up just half-an-inch in height and reach to Ramirez. Benavidez’s biggest wins so far have been over Yarde, Morrell, Andrade, Plant, Lemieux, Kyrone Davis, Ronald Ellis, Angulo, Dirrell, Love, Gavril, Rogelio (Porky) Medina, and Denis Douglin.
Prediction…
Fans should be in for a treat here as Ramirez and Benavidez typically like to let their hands go in a relentless manner. Both boxers are most effective when they stick to their strengths which are aggression and power. Benavidez arguably has more power while Ramirez may have a slightly sturdier chin. Let’s not forget that Benavidez is fighting as a full-fledged cruiserweight (200 lbs) for the first time. The heaviest he’s ever weighed in was 180.75 lbs in his second pro fight and he weighed 174.25 lbs in his last contest against Yarde. This could be a candidate for fight of the year as it could be an all-out slugfest. Fans should be prepared for any outcome here but I’m giving Benavidez the edge as he just keeps coming forward no matter what he receives in return.
Benavidez is relentless in attack.
Play: Benavidez -600 @ BetOnline.ag
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David Benavidez betting • Gilberto Ramirez betting