David Benavidez Vs Gilberto Ramirez tale of the Tape, Undercard, & Breakdown

This all-Mexican slugfest on Cinco De Mayo weekend is headlined by David Benavidez moving up to challenge Gilberto Ramirez for his WBA and WBO world cruiserweight belts.

Coincidentally, both Benavidez and Ramirez began their storied careers having won their first world titles in the super-middleweight division. Zurdo with the WBO, and Benavidez being two-time WBC champion at the weight. Zurdo came up short in the only light heavyweight title challenge against Dmitry Bivol, also his only loss, but found success again, winning the WBA and later the WBO, when he moved up to cruiserweight shortly thereafter. Benavidez was able to collect the Interim WBC and WBA regular titles in his foray into 175 lbs, and was later elevated to full WBC champion. He has since defended those titles against Anthony Yarde, solidifying his championship status.

Zurdo has shown interest in unifying his division, but this will be an arduous task with a lot of waiting and deal-making and may prove to be impossible with the current landscape. In the meantime, facing another world class fighter and fellow champion, albeit in a different weight class, is a solid consolation.

Benavidez has machinations of facing the other top-tier fighters at light heavyweight, Bivol and Beterbiev, but as he's shown previously, he does not like waiting around for fights to get made. At this point Zurdo has something David wants: titles in yet another weight class, legitimacy at the world level, and a huge challenge.

The undercard is stacked up to be just as exciting as the main event. Armando Resendiz, fresh off his upset win over Caleb Plant, will defend his title against the all-action, and always improving, Jaime Munguia. Oscar Duarte gets over the let down of his title fight with Richardson Hitchins falling through by facing Angel Fierro, a man who all but guarantees and in-your-face high-octane scrap. Lucero vs Florez and Chavez vs Sanchez are also promising match-ups, serving as the appetizers of a four-course Mexican feast for the eyes.