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Michael Woods decided to be a jerk and share this scoop with The Ring before us, so now I’m sniping it from him. WBC super middleweight champion-in-recess David Benavidez has an opponent for his March 16th co-main event slot on Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia: Money Team veteran J’Leon Love.
He will then, presumably, face the winner of Anthony Dirrell vs. Avni Yildrim in a bid for his former title.
Love (24-2-1, 13 KO) suffered a surprising upset loss to “Porky” Medina back in 2014 and has essentially been treading water since. Arguably the most significant accomplishment in his subsequent seven-fight unbeaten streak was a technical draw against Abie Han, and he lost big to Peter Quillin in August.
Still, a bounce-back fight isn’t an inexcusable offense for Benavidez (20-0, 17 KO), who will have been out 13 months when he re-enters the ring. The 22-year-old was on track to face Dirrell in his second title defense before testing positive for cocaine, leading to the situation outlined in the first couple sentences up there.