Owen Lewis: As I’ve written before, I wanted to see Benavidez against Dmitry Bivol before “The Mexican Monster” took his leave for cruiserweight. I completely understand why he doesn’t want to wait around for Bivol and Beterbiev to settle their business a third time – he’s probably looking at a year, minimum, before Bivol is ready to step in with him – but what a disappointment that we won’t get to see that matchup. Though Zurdo is a fine fight, does anyone who watched Benavidez walk through Yarde think he could win for any reason besides size? Benavidez-Bivol would have been a true match of elite fighters, in their primes, at a weight that suits them both. With all due respect to Artur Beterbiev, who is approaching his 41st birthday, I have no real interest in seeing him fight Bivol a third time. Kudos to Benavidez for not wasting his time, but shame on everybody that failed to get him a legacy-defining fight in a second weight class.
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