Welcome to another news roundup. This time we have a mandatory challenger for David Benavidez, news on Adonis Stevenson’s potential next fight, a Carlos Cuadras update, Lee Selby changing weight classes, and huge news on Naoya Inoue’s move up to bantamweight this weekend. I am really excited about the last part.
- We may have an explanation for some of super flyweight Carlos Cuadras’s (36-3-1, 27 KOs) recent struggles. The former titleholder has lost three of four, albeit against elite competition, and really struggled in the win over David Carmona. In response to his state of affairs, the once elite fighter has checked into and completed a rehab program for drug and alcohol abuse. 29 is aging for one of the lighter weight classes in the sport, but there is still time for Cuadras to earn his way back to another big opportunity. If he wasn’t giving his body a chance due to his too wild lifestyle, maybe we will see a different fighter in the ring if he is truly now clean.
- The WBC has ordered its super middleweight titleholder David Benavidez (20-0, 17 KOs) to defend his belt next against Anthony Dirrell (32-1-1, 24 KOs). This is tricky for a couple reasons, but mainly because Benavidez has tentatively agreed to defend against Russian fringe contender Matt Korobov in July. This ruling might throw a wrench in that. It might not too though because Anthony Dirrell has shown absolutely no desire to fight top fighters in recent years. He has said he wants a title shot and will retire, but the Flint fighter is not a man I’d be confident in taking a fight like this until he actually does it no matter what he says.
- Speaking of the WBC, their interim light heavyweight titleholder Oleksandr Gvozdyk (15-0, 12 KOs) and his team are on record as to saying they will enforce their right to challenge Adonis Stevenson (29-1-1, 24 KOs) for the full title next. They are saying that they will not accept a step aside fees or anything of the sort so Stevenson and Badou Jack would have a chance to rematch their recent draw. Gvozdyk’s team are also claiming that their side, meaning Top Rank, is very much comfortable with the fight going on Showtime as well instead of ESPN and that they’ll travel anywhere for it, including Montreal. It sounds the Top Rank and Ukrainian coalition are going to make it very difficult for Stevenson to avoid the defense. I would not be surprised if the WBC amended their order to allow for a rematch first given the draw, however.
- Following his defeat and the loss of his featherweight title to Josh Warrington on Saturday, Lee Selby (26-2, 9 KOs) has announced that he will be moving up to junior lightweight going forward. He credited Warrington’s performance but also implied that the weight cut was responsible for his own poor one. Selby certainly has been making featherweight for a long time and would likely have an easy time getting a shot at the IBF belt at the weight given that he was their longtime titlist at 126. That belt is currently vacant and being competed over sometime this summer between Tevin Farmer and Billy Dib.
- Finally, some big news out of the ESPN+ platform. The streaming service has surprisingly picked up Friday’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue’s (15-0, 12 KOs) bantamweight debut in Japan against Jaime McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs) for the Brit’s secondary WBA belt. They also will air the Ken Shiro’s (12-0, 6 KOs) light flyweight title rematch with Ganigan Lopez (29-7, 18 KOs). This is completely unexpected and outstanding news. I fully expected the streaming service to pick up some random UK cards that no one had the rights to stateside, but to jump into the Japanese scene like this is something else entirely. If ESPN+ continues down this road, they will have a subscriber for life in me. The fights will air live at 7 AM Eastern or you can catch them later in the day in the service’s archives.
