Unbeaten David Benavidez will face David Lemieux in May for the vacant IBF super middleweight title.
The two will headline the May 21 card from Glendale, Arizona. It airs live on Showtime.
“I’m looking forward to this fantastic fight between David Benavídez and David Lemieux on May 21,” said Sampson Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing. “It will be bombs away between two great punchers when they get in the ring and whoever wins will be at the top of the division and looking at some very big fights on the horizon.”
Still just 25-years-old, Benavídez (25-0, 22 KOs) enters this fight having knocked out his last five opponents, including a September 2019 knockout of two-time super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell.
Most recently, Benavidez returned to fight in Arizona for the first time since 2015 and delivered a dominating seventh-round knockout of Kyrone Davis.
“I’m excited to be fighting for another belt, and I’m training extremely hard because it is another big opportunity for my career and future,” said Benavídez. “David Lemieux still has a lot of power, so I have to make sure I sharpen all my skills 100 percent. I’m confident I can stop Lemieux and I’m planning on giving my fans another great fight on May 21.”
Fighting out of his native Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) has won five consecutive bouts heading into May 21, including three-straight wins since moving up to super middleweight in December 2019.
The 33-year-old became a middleweight world champion in June 2015, defeating Hassan N’Dam to capture the belt before dropping a unification bout against Gennadiy Golovkin later that year.
The SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING telecast begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT and will see hard-hitting Cuban prospect Yoelvis Gómez taking on Mexico’s Jorge Cota in the 10-round super welterweight co-main event.