David Benavidez to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk for WBC interim light heavyweight belt as Canelo Alvarez's May 4 opponent remains a mystery

David Benavidez holds an interim title and is going to fight for another one, only widening the mystery of who Canelo Alvarez will face in his next bout.

Benavidez, who holds the interim WBC super middleweight championship, could still wind up facing Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo on May 4 for Alvarez's undisputed 168-pound title. That would be a massive fight and, along with an unlikely bout against undisputed welterweight champion Terence Crawford, would represent the most significant fight that Alvarez could take at this stage.

Alvarez has long wanted to rematch Dmitry Bivol, but Bivol is going to fight Artur Beterbiev in Saudi Arabia in June for the undisputed light heavyweight title.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced the Benavidez-Gvozdyk bout on Twitter, and said the sanctioning body would approve it for its interim light heavyweight belt.

Alvarez met with reporters in Mexico on Feb. 13 in Mexico, and said he would fight an American opponent next, though he would not reveal that opponent. Saying he'd fight an American next ruled out Jaime Munguia, who stopped John Ryder in Phoenix earlier this month, and led to rampant speculation that WBC middleweight champion in recess Jermall Charlo would be next.

Charlo, whose identical twin brother Jermell was drubbed by Alvarez in September, has fought once in the last nearly three years. That was against Jose Benavidez, David's older brother, in December. Jose Benavidez has fought mostly as a welterweight in his career.

Charlo, though, had said the day after Alvarez's news conference that he hadn't spoken to the PBC about a fight with Alvarez.

David Morrell Jr. holds an interim WBA super middleweight belt, but he's Cuban. Christian Mbili is from Cameroon. Diego Pacheco is 20-0 and is an American. He's ranked second by the WBO, fourth by the IBF and WBC, and seventh by the WBA. But he's only 22 years old and not seemingly ready for an experienced fighter like Alvarez.

So it seems like it's either going to be Charlo, Benavidez or Crawford.

As for Benavidez, if he moves up to fight Gvozdyk, it's likely a sign that he can no longer comfortably make 168 pounds. Gvozdyk is a quality opponent to return against. Gvozdyk was 17-0 when he fought Artur Beterbiev in a light heavyweight unification bout in 2019 in Philadelphia, but was stopped in the 10th round.

He retired after that Oct. 18, 2019, bout and didn't return until last year, when he fought three tune-up fights.

So Benavidez will either be in one of the year's biggest fights, for all the marbles at super middleweight against Alvarez, or he'll move up and try to become a two-time champion.

Benavidez promoter Samson Lewkowicz said his team had offered Alvarez $55 million to fight Benavidez but couldn't get a deal made.