LAS VEGAS — On Saturday, May 2, one fighter will forever change the landscape of North American boxing.
In one corner, we’ll see Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez put his unified cruiserweight world championship belts on the line against David Benavidez, who, in the other corner, fights for the first time in the 200-pound division, risking his status as the seventh-best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, per Uncrowned’s latest rankings.
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It is, perhaps, an unexpected fight considering Benavidez only fought twice at light heavyweight after winning world title fights at super middleweight. And considering recent talks for a fight with Dmitry Bivol, there is clearly unfinished business for the WBC light heavyweight champion at 175 pounds.
Ramirez, too, could box other cruiserweight giants like Jai Opetaia.
For fans on the outside looking in, both men have more pressing rivals. But, for the fighters themselves, this is a bout they have visualized for years.
Their story goes back to a sparring session in 2016 — a time when Benavidez was still a prospect 18 months shy of his first championship win.
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A more established fighter at that time, Ramirez recruited the teenage “Monster” into his camp to help him prepare for his first title shot against Arthur Abraham. Ramirez won that fight by lopsided decision.
“The sparring happened a long time ago,” Ramirez told Uncrowned. “The sessions would have been a great pay-per-view.”
Both left the gym knowing they’d one day fight for real when the lights were brightest and the stage was grandest.
“I was only 17 years old but I always knew I was going to fight him,” Benavidez said. “I just didn’t think it would be at cruiserweight. But, honestly, this is even better.”
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For Ramirez, those sparring sessions provided him with the intensity and high-level action that helped yield that comfortable win over Abraham. In the years since, he’s gained more muscle, and more technical nous, he said.
“We both know that each of us has a lot of skill that we’ll be bringing into the ring, but I’ve also grown a lot as a fighter since we sparred,” he said. “I’ve gotten a lot more experience that I’m going to take into this fight.”
And, though the sparring is just one narrative heading into this unified world title fight, there is something far more lucrative at stake than the WBA and WBO belts available to the winner.
Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez speaks as David Benavidez watches on ahead of their Las Vegas title fight.
(Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy via Getty Images)
A fight 10 years in the making decides who owns Cinco de Mayo going forward
For decades, the face of the sport has typically headlined one of the most significant boxing weekends, Cinco de Mayo, regardless of whether they had Mexican lineage, like Oscar De La Hoya, or didn’t, like Floyd Mayweather Jr. — or, more recently, Naoya Inoue.
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Following Mayweather’s retirement from the sport, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez carried the fight game on his stocky shoulders. And though this year he’ll be noticeably absent from the ring, Alvarez’s trainer/manager Eddy Reynoso said the former four-division champ will attend the T-Mobile Arena as a spectator to support his stablemate, Jaime Munguia.
With 68 pro fights and multiple world title wins, 12.28 million pay-per-view sales and close to $1 billion in box office revenue, few are as decorated or as rich as “Canelo.” Eddie Hearn even told Uncrowned once that Alvarez now has “more money than God.”
But Alvarez’s significance in combat sports has waned in recent years.
In 2025, he beat the unheralded William Scull in Riyadh to very little fanfare before losing his status as the best super middleweight in the sport to Terence Crawford. “Canelo” hasn’t fought since.
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That time on the sidelines only benefits Ramirez and Benavidez.
Canelo Alvarez isn’t expected to fight against until September.
(Hector Vivas via Getty Images)
With “Canelo” out of the picture, even temporarily, the entire spotlight is now on the new generation. And Saturday’s victor could, in theory, take the lucrative Cinco de Mayo date going forward — something Benavidez told us was always his dream growing up.
Ramirez is well aware of the significance, too.
“This is Cinco de Mayo and this is for all my Mexican people,” he said. “We have the potential to give fans the Fight of the Year. This is going to be a war.”
For Benavidez, it’s all about “strengthening” his “legend by going up another weight class.”
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“The plan since I was a little kid [was to fight on Cinco de Mayo],” he said, “and now I’m in this moment, I’m going to capitalize on this opportunity.
“I want to make the best fights happen and be the face of boxing. I don’t want to earn my greatness. I want to take it.”
Ten years ago they traded leather in a quiet gym to help one man reach the top. Now, on Cinco de Mayo weekend, they do it again in front of the entire world, this time to decide who stays there.
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