Co-headlining on Saturday (along with Gervonta "Tank" Davis vs. Frank Martin) on June 15th at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Aren will be two-time WBC super middleweight champion David “El Monstruo” Benavídez as he makes his 175-pound debut in a twelve-round duel against the power-punching former WBC champion Oleksandr “The Nail” Gvozdyk (pictured). At stake will be the vacant WBC interim light heavyweight Title.
After earning a bronze medal representing his native Ukraine at the 2012 Olympics, Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) turned pro in 2014 and quickly set his sights on the top of the division. He dominated veteran contenders Yunieski Gonzalez, Isaac Chilemba, Tommy Karpency and Nadjib Mohammedi on his way to becoming the WBC’s mandatory challenger at 175-pounds. He went on to become WBC champion with an 11th-round knockout of Adonis Stevenson and defended the title in 2019 by stopping Doudou Ngumbu in round five.
After losing the belt in a brutal unification match against Artur Beterbiev, Gvozdyk returned in 2023 to score three straight victories. He bested Josue Obando in February before knocking out Ricards Bolotniks in May and Isaac Rodrigues in September. Now training and residing in California, Gvozdyk’s amateur career saw him compete in over 250 bouts, including three Ukrainian National Championships that led to his Olympic success.
“I’ve never avoided any challenges, and this is no exception,” said Gvozdyk. “Benavidez is a top caliber fighter and that’s exactly what motivates me to train hard each and every day. If you want to be the best, you have to fight the best. I’m ready to become a champion once again.”
The 27-year-old undefeated Benavídez (28-0, 24 KOs) makes his 2024 debut after a pair of wins made for a standout 2023 campaign. He began the year by besting longtime rival Caleb Plant via unanimous decision in a March slugfest and followed it up by stopping the previously unbeaten two-division champion Demetrius Andrade in six rounds in November. Benavídez became the youngest-ever 168-pound world champion at just 20 years old when he defeated Ronald Gavril by split decision for the vacant WBC title in 2017. A Phoenix-native who now lives in Seattle and currently trains in Miami, Benavidez has likely moved on from the super middleweight division but will now look to carry his talents up to light heavyweight for this fight.
When he was 15 years old, Benavídez went from weighing 250 pounds to a boxing prodigy under his father and trainer, Jose, Sr., and his brother and veteran contender Jose Jr., as he famously held his own in sparring against middleweight champions Gennady Golovkin and Peter Quillin as a teenager. Benavídez rode a string of six straight knockout victories heading into the bout against Plant, including KOs of former world champions Anthony Dirrell and David Lemieux.
“I'm very excited to be going to the light heavyweight division to compete against the best 175-pound fighters,” said Benavídez. “I've been eyeing that division for a long time, and now I feel like it's my time. I'm going to go unify the division. I've watched Gvozdyk for a long time - I know exactly how he fights. I actually sparred him when I was 20 years old and I know he's a really tough opponent, so I need to be 100%. This is a hard fight, but I'm going to make it look easy.”
