Benavidez Sr Pitches Usyk Superfight to Turki for Cinco de Mayo

Oleksandr Usyk wants one more fight before he walks away, and the queue to be his last opponent just got more crowded. The 39-year-old vacated all three of his heavyweight belts in June and confirmed he'd box once more before retiring. For weeks the obvious answer was Deontay Wilder — 45-4-1 with 43 knockouts — but those talks have stalled with no date and no venue.

Enter David Benavidez. The three-division champion sits at a spotless 32-0 with 26 KOs, and his father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr, is pushing hard for a heavyweight crossover against Usyk. According to messages surfaced by Ricardo Celis, Benavidez Sr took the pitch directly to Turki Alalshikh, floating a Cinco de Mayo 2027 event built around his son sharing a ring with the Ukrainian.

The response from Riyadh's power broker was underwhelming. Alalshikh reportedly replied with little more than a friendly acknowledgement — telling Benavidez Sr he'd see him, brother — which is a long way from a green light. Read it how you like: it's neither a yes nor a no, but it's certainly not the enthusiasm a matchmaker offers a fight he's ready to book.

The Case Against It

On paper, this is a wild ask. Benavidez has been operating at cruiserweight, where he dethroned Gilberto Ramirez for the WBO and WBA straps with a brutal sixth-round finish in May. Jumping a fighter up to face a former undisputed heavyweight — even a 39-year-old one — is the kind of thing that reads better in a WhatsApp thread than on a sanctioning body's paperwork.

Usyk, for his part, isn't exactly cruising into retirement on autopilot. His last outing was a labored 11th-round stoppage of Rico Verhoeven in May, a performance widely described as subpar despite the finish. That's the kind of showing that makes a final-fight pick genuinely open — a promoter can justify almost anyone.

What's Actually Booked

While the Usyk chatter swirls, the real Benavidez calendar is filling up. WBC interim champion Michal Cieslak has emerged as a likely December 12 opponent, and Benavidez Sr is already sketching that 2027 Cinco de Mayo showcase. Benavidez himself has also name-checked a cruiserweight clash with Jai Opetaia — the 30-0 lineal champion — who fights Noel Mikaelian on the Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn undercard on September 12.

So where does that leave Usyk's swansong? Wilder remains the name with the most mileage, Benavidez is the flashier long shot, and Opetaia lurks in the cruiserweight conversation. Until Alalshikh does more than nod politely, none of it is real. But if you're the man who wants to bow out at the top, you could do worse than an undefeated 32-0 challenger begging for the fight.