David Benavidez blasts Zuffa Boxing, Ali’s grandson responds how Zuffa “complicates” the sweet science

David Benavidez put Zuffa Boxing in his crosshairs after securing a massive win over the weekend, and the grandson of Muhammad Ali has bounced off of some of Benavidez’s comments. Benavidez put on a masterful performance in besting Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez to capture a pair of belts in what is now a third weight category for him.

With Benavidez now being a dual belt holder at cruiserweight, he took aim at the TKO helmed boxing property, which drew the attention of Nico Ali Walsh on X. In a post-fight press conference when Jai Opetaia was mentioned, the inaugural Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight champion, and when asked about the red tape involved in booking such a fight in the context of how important a bout like that could be, Benavidez said,

“I think that’s the biggest fight in the world especially at this weight division. That’s definitely a fight I want. Like I said, I’m not scared of nobody. If he wants to get that fight, we can get that fight. I don’t know why he went to Zuffa. We could have made this fight right after this one. But now, I don’t know if he got stripped by the IBF or what it is.”

“I’m not gonna go over there and fight for a Zuffa title. But I mean, I don’t know. I think that would be a great fight to make in the future. I respect Jai Opetaia a lot. He’s a great fighter. [Jai] has to come back over here to make these fights happen because we can’t make no fights in Zuffa.”

Retweeting the Benavidez clip, which was provided by X account @FightHubTV, Nico Ali Walsh responded,

“This is proving it in real time, Zuffa doesn’t simplify boxing, it complicates it.”

David Benavidez calls out even more champions across two different weight classes

David Benavidez had quite a few people on his proverbial hit list after dispatching of ‘Zurdo’ and put his focus on a prominent light heavyweight as well as an elite super middleweight. Firing off verbal volleys at both Dmitry Bivol and Canelo Alvarez, Benavidez stated [via Bad Left Hook],

“I see Canelo in the building. Do you guys want to see Canelo vs David Benavidez. Enough said. Enough said. That means we can’t leave that fight on the table. I respect Canelo, he’s a great champion, but I’m a great champion, too. Let’s do it.”

“Bivol’s number one on my hit list. Bivol’s a great competitor, a great champion. I just want to test myself every single fight.”

Both currently have locked-in assignments with Canelo lined up for a Cristian Mbilli clash for the latter’s WBC super middleweight title in September. For Bivol, he is set to return at month’s end to defend his 175-pound crown against Michael Eifert on Russian soil.