David Benavidez Leads Champions

David Benevidez Leads a Gathering of Champions in Hollywood for Dec. 5 Card

By Lauren Rodriguez

HOLLYWOOD, Ca.-On December 5th, the unified WBA and WBO cruiserweight world champion David “El Monstro” Benavidez (32-0-0) returns to the ring against Polish WBC cruiserweight champion Michal Cieslak (28-2-0). The clash will take place in Benavidez’s hometown of Glendale, Arizona, at the Desert Diamond Arena. PBC and Golden Boy Promotions are joining forces in co-promoting the event.

The co-main event of the night will be the undefeated Vergil Ortiz Jr.(24-0-0) against former unified world champion Keith “One Time” Thurman (31-2-0). The two fighters will go head-to-head in a 12-round bout. After a contractual battle between Ortiz and his promoter, the fighter and Oscar De La Hoya came to amicable terms, with the two in good spirits.

“I didn’t know how much I missed you guys [Golden Boy Promotions] ‘til I came back… even the media,” said Ortiz.

Ortiz continued to express his happiness over returning to the ring after a year of training without a scheduled fight. Ortiz gave respect to Thurman, who suffered a TKO to WBC super welterweight Sebastian Fundora (25-1-1) in March.

“People are overlooking him. He got stopped, but he got stopped by a champion. He’s [Sebastian Fundora] a tough fight for everyone…It’s more of a respect thing; he’s an exciting fighter. I just want to be in those exciting fights. I want to be one of those fighters who's never said no to a fight… which I haven’t.”

For a year,  I felt like I was training for nothing in a way. I feel like I’m doing something now with my life. Some people say I should be world champion already, and I agree, but I’m just doing what I can right now, what's in my control,” said Ortiz.

Thurman, whose only other loss was to Manny Pacquiao in 2019 by a split decision, spoke on his defeats.

“My last performance was the worst of my career…He’s an awkward fighter. I never in my career took that long to get comfortable in the ring. I was stopped but never dropped.

I fought Pacquiao. I was dropped, but the fight wasn’t stopped,” said Thurman.

On the undercard, Emiliano “El General” Vargas (18-0, 15 KO’s) will be taking the ring against Omar “El Relampago” Juarez (21-2, 8 KO’s). The two will go 10 rounds in the super lightweight division. Juarez’s most recent fight was a knockout victory in September against Emmanuel Lopez (30-20-1).

In the super middleweight division, Marco “El Tiburón” Romero (16-0) will be going 8 rounds against a to-be-determined opponent.

The fight that came together through the cooperation of three major promotion companies that include Golden Boy, TGB and Top Rank will be live-streamed live on DAZN pay-per-view.

 Photos by Eric Dearborn/DAZN