American boxing stars Gervonta Davis and David Benavidez will be co-headlining on June 15th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, as they fight in their respective title matches. While Davis will be defending his WBA lightweight title for the first time―since being promoted to full champion earlier this year―against fellow American Frank Martin, Benavidez will face Ukrainian contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the vacant WBC interim light-heavyweight title. The event has been confirmed as a pay-per-view event and will feature on Amazon Prime.
The lightweight title bout between Gervonta Davis (29-0, 27 KO’s) and Frank Martin (18-0, 12 KO’s) had been speculated to be in the works over the past couple of months and will finally take root in roughly two months’ time.
The decision by Frank Martin to pull out of a scheduled match against Shakur Stevenson (21-0, 10 KO’s) for the vacant WBC title last year now puts to bed the speculation on why Martin pulled out, with his earlier gripes about pay, which he cited as the main reason for withdrawing from the Stevenson fight, likely set to be assuaged given the popularity of Gervonta Davis―who is considered a household name in America.
While most betting odds will favor the more experienced and accomplished Davis, the WBA lightweight champion has not fought since defeating Ryan Garcia (25-1, 20 KO’s) last April, giving Martin a slight advantage in regards to activity―having last fought in July of last year. However, it will remain to be seen whether Martin has the full repertoire of skills and talent to deliver an upset.
While the Davis-Martin bout will headline at the MGM Grand, David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KO’s) and Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KO’s) will feature in the co-main event of the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) fight card. The two are set to engage in a light-heavyweight title bout for the vacant WBC interim title, granting the winner a potential shot against the future undisputed winner between 175 lbs champions Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO’s) and Dmitry Bivol (22-0, 11 KO’s)―who are set to compete on June 1st.
Despite the opportunity to fight for all the 175 lbs marbles lurking for Benavidez and Gvozdyk, it should be noted that an interim title is not the same as a mandatory challenger position, with the latter offering more certainty in regards to world title opportunities. However, for both fighters it’s an opportunity to further establish their growing reputation, and seal themselves as the top contender in the division―as well as give them a potential path to becoming world champion by being promoted to full champion if the situation warrants it.
In the case of Benavidez winning, there are doubts as to whether he will continue to participate at light-heavyweight given his current position in the super middleweight division as its WBC interim champion, and WBC mandatry challenger. However, with the WBC refusing to order a match between him and Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KO’s), Benavidez might decide to stick with the light-heavyweight division and look for new opportunities there.
For Gvozdyk, different stakes and motivations are at play. Gvozdyk actually held the WBC light-heavyweight title before but eventually lost it to current unified champion Artur Beterbiev in 2019. A win for Gvozdyk would not only officially verify him as a genuine threat in the division once more, but grant him a window to revenge his loss against Beterbiev in a potential rematch―if the Canadian-Russian comes out on top on June 1st.
Further matches set to feature on the undercard will be announced by PBC in due course.
