David Benavidez stepped up his push to become boxing's next Mexican superstar by brutalising Britain's Anthony Yarde in Riyadh and then announcing his next fight for Cinco de Mayo 2026.
The Mexican holiday has long been synonymous with huge boxing cards and has been the sole preserve of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for much of the past decade.
Alvarez, whose most recent outing saw him lose his super middleweight titles to Terence Crawford, has fought on Cinco de Mayo every year since 2016, apart from 2018 when he was suspended for failing a doping test in between his first two fights with Gennady Golovkin.
Benavidez chased a fight with Canelo for years to no avail before pushing on with his own career and has racked up a string of impressive victories. Going early with a May 2 announcement for an enticing bout up at cruiserweight against another Mexican champion in Gilberto Ramirez is an aggressive and perhaps even provocative statement of intent.
After stopping Yarde in seven rounds at ANB Arena in Riyadh on Saturday, Benavidez said: “I got some news for you guys. May 2, me versus [Gilberto] “Zurdo” Ramirez. I'm going up to cruiserweight to challenge for his titles. I'm excited for that.”
Benavidez said the WBA and WBO cruiserweight title bout would likely take place in Las Vegas. Ramirez's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions, also confirmed the plan on social media.
In Saudi Arabia, Benavidez extended his unbeaten run with a seventh-round stoppage of Yarde. The 28-year-old, now 31-0 with 25 knockouts, gradually broke Yarde (27-4, 24ko) down with sustained pressure and rapid combinations, leaving the British challenger with a bloodied face in the sixth round before the referee ended the fight in the next session.
The defeat marked the 34-year-old Yarde's third failed world title bid, following previous stoppage losses to Sergey Kovalev and Artur Beterbiev. Despite moments of competitiveness, Yarde spent much of the contest on the back foot as Benavidez's speed and accuracy took control.
“I’d grade [my performance] a B+, I’m not going to lie,” Benavidez said. “There’s always room for improvement. They said I couldn’t stop this guy and I had no power at 175, I made it look better than Beterbiev and Kovalev.”
Haney returns to form on undercard
In the co-main event, Devin Haney claimed the WBO welterweight title by unanimous decision over his fellow American Brian Norman Jr to become a three-division world champion.
Haney knocked down Norman (28-1, 22 KOs) in the second round to seize the momentum and stayed in control behind his sharp jab as he closed out a 114-113, 117-110 and 116-111 verdict.
Haney (33-0, 15 KOs) is a former lightweight and super lightweight world champion. He beat Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision in a 12-round welterweight bout in Times Square in February. He was previously beaten by Ryan Garcia but the result was expunged due to an adverse doping sample provided by Garcia.
Perhaps the fight of the night was between Britain's Sam Noakes and American prodigy Abdullah Mason. The two traded heavy shots throughout with Mason getting a worthy nod after a thrilling bout. Mason had to bite down to cope with Noakes’ brutal body shots but hit back with rapid damaging combinations. All three judges (117-111, 115-111 and 115-111) had it for Mason, who collected the WBO lightweight title to become boxing's youngest champion.
Elsewhere on the Riyadh card, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez unified three of the four world titles at super flyweight with a 10th round knockout win over Fernando Martinez. Martinez (18-1, 9ko) lost the WBA title in the defeat, which Rodriguez added to the WBC and WBO belts he already owned.
The 25-year-old showed his pound-for-pound class and looked levels above arguably the number two fighter in his division. The victory puts Rodriguez one belt short of the full set. Willibaldo Garcia holds the IBF title, and will defend in Riyadh on December 27 against Japan's Kenshiro Teraji. The winner of that bout would be a logical next step for the hard-hitting Mexican-American Rodriguez.
