:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46332652/usa-today-8270003.0.jpg)
If Jose Benavidez Jr is successful tomorrow night against Jorge Paez Jr, which will be televised on truTV's Friday Night Knockout, his father and trainer says there's a chance that the young Benavidez could face Terence Crawford, and that they were offered that fight already:
"We were offered a fight with Terence Crawford. We accepted that fight, but he decided to go with someone else at 140. That may be a possibility next. But we have to go through this fighter first."
Jose Sr admits that his son, a blue chip prospect looking to become a contender at 22, has something to prove after a highly-criticized win over Mauricio Herrera in December, and says that he wanted a rematch with Herrera to erase doubts.
* * * *
Kevin Mitchell faces Jorge Linares for the WBC lightweight title on May 30 in London, and says he's righted the ship in his personal life and gotten away from the destructive behavior that he believes cost him fights in the past:
"I've settled down with my girlfriend now and I've had a more settled life in the last two years. Back then I was playing at being a party boy and trying to be a champion at the same time. The party lifestyle cost me a lot of money and got me into trouble but I hardly go out now. I've made my life easier for myself."
* * * *
The Jonathan Jakubowicz-directed film Hands of Stone, starring Edgar Ramirez as Roberto Duran and Robert De Niro as Ray Arcel, is expected to get a winter release after U.S. distribution rights were picked up by The Weinstein Company. Usher will also be in the movie, playing Sugar Ray Leonard.
Deadline also notes that another "hot title" at Cannes is Bleed For This, a film about Vinny Pazienza's comeback after a severe car crash. With Southpaw and Creed, we're getting a lot of boxing movies this year, it appears, and while it's certainly far from a guaranteed boost for the sport, it can't hurt to have boxing in that sort of mainstream limelight with inspiring and dramatic stories about the fight game.
* * * *