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Boxing

"You're gonna cut a leg off?" - Eddie Hearn dismisses David Benavidez's planned move to 160lbs

Alexander Netherton
"You're gonna cut a leg off?" - Eddie Hearn dismisses David Benavidez's planned move to 160lbsDAZN
Matchroom head Eddie Hearn does not believe super middleweight David Benavidez could or should drop down a division.

Eddie Hearn has dismissed the prospect of David Benavidez moving down to middleweight from the 168lbs division.

Benavidez has been put forward as a potential opponent for IBF champion Caleb Plant should his proposed undisputed super middleweight clash against three-belt holder Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez fall through.

However there has also been talk of Benavidez dropping down to the middleweight class in pursuit of alternative fights, but Hearn cannot see how that would work.

“Benavidez come down to 160, yeah,” he said to the DAZN Boxing Show. “That's what he said. You're gonna cut a leg off?

"He struggles to make 168 - there is absolutely no way then if David Benavidez has come down to 160 pounds. And Benavidez is great. Was that fun fighter, you know, and very talented. But he ain't coming down to 160.”

The Matchroom promoter then reconfirmed his desire to make the Jermall Charlo fight with Demetrius Andrade, his fighter who has struggled to gain traction as he chases his own big fight.

“But can we stop having these conversations about any other fight other than Jermall Charlo against Andrade?” he asked.

“ I don't know why everybody continues to give him a pass...  We grilled them about Demetrius Andrade listening again. It's not just about you, but it's like you got two American middleweight world champions, both tremendous champions. 

“You've got Jermall Charlo, saying, I want to unify, you know, I want to be like my bro, I want to do this. And then you put this other world champion who's saying I'm just, I just want the opportunity to beat another champion. I'm ready. There's not even been a conversation, not a conversation. And it's just baffling. 

“You're not giving these fighters an opportunity to go out and create a legacy and be great because you're just trying to match them in-house.

"You look at Tank Davis, you know, Davis will never be a great unless he fights Teofimo [Lopez], unless he fights Ryan Garcia, unless he fights Devin Haney. So we have to just open our minds a little bit and realise that it's okay to take chances. 

“It's okay to buy a guy from another platform. It's okay to flip a coin in the air every now and again to have a bit of fun and to chase a dream.”