Two exciting boxing fighters David Benavidez and Virgil Ortiz Jr. this year they will share the stage.
Benavidez, a WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion, will fight Polish WBC titlist Michal Cieslak on December 5 at the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. And in the co-feature, Ortiz will end a 13-month layoff against former champion Keith Thurman.
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The doubleheader will be available on DAZN and Amazon Prime Video, and will also be part of a DAZN Ultimate subscription.
Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs), a three-division world champion, went to no-weight in May after an impressive sixth-round knockout of Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez.
Cieslak (28-2, 22 KOs) took the interim WBC title against Jean Pascal in June 2025. He did not fight with, but he received the biggest news of his career when in September after Noel Mikaelian was stripped of the title, he was upgraded to full champion.
Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs) is the WBC interim super welterweight champion, but his Dec. 12 fights with Thurman at middleweight — and Ortiz is expected to continue his career at 160 pounds.
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Ortiz was next in action when he knocked out Erickson Lubin in two rounds last November. He was scheduled to fight against Jaron “Boots” Ennis in one boxing match, but Ortiz found himself embroiled in a fight with his Golden Boy supporter Oscar De La Hoya.
Ortiz and the Golden Boy finally decided and agreed to complete the remaining three fights in the beginning of December to promote the deal.
Thurman (31-2, 23 KOs), the former unified welterweight champion, is looking to bounce back from a one-sided KO loss to WBC super welterweight champion Sebastian Fundora in March. Thurman, 37, has been inactive for the past few years and has not won a significant victory since his unanimous decision victory over Mario Barrios in February 2022. He will be seriously aging against Ortiz.