David Benavidez to face Kyrone Davis in November 13 Showtime main event

David Benavidez has a new opponent for his Nov. 13 Showtime main event, as the two-time former titlist will now face Kyrone Davis.

Benavidez had been scheduled to fight Jose Uzcategui, who was pulled from the fight today after failing a drug test.

Davis (16-2-1, 6 KO) is, if we’re being honest, not a very good opponent for Benavidez (24-0, 21 KO), who will be expected to roll over another foe en route to possibly facing the Canelo-Plant winner in early 2022.

The 26-year-old Davis went to a draw with ex-titleholder Anthony Dirrell in February, leading some to wonder if Davis was better than expected or if the then 36-year-old Dirrell had just slipped badly or had an off-night.

We may have gotten an answer to that in September, when Davis returned in Minneapolis against club fighter Martez McGregor and struggled a bit to a narrow eight-round decision win, a fight that Davis would have lost by split decision except for three points taken from McGregor during the rough bout.

Davis’ other more notable fights were a split decision win over Marcos Hernandez in 2017 and a loss to Patrick Day in 2018.

The Showtime event will also still feature a return for David’s brother, Jose Benavidez Jr (27-1, 18 KO), a former blue chip prospect who hasn’t lived up to the hype as a pro, and hasn’t fought since a 2018 loss to Terence Crawford. He’ll be taking on Francisco Emanuel Torres (17-3, 5 KO) in a 10-round fight at 154 lbs.

Rances Barthelemy (28-1-1, 14 KO) is listed for the card against Gustavo David Vittori (25-9-1, 12 KO), but that either isn’t fully official, or won’t be airing on Showtime, as it’s not mentioned in the Showtime press release. The latter would not be a surprise, because Vittori really is not a Showtime-quality fighter.