Boxing: Benavidez vs. Cieslak, three belts on the line on December 5

The unification is set. David Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) will defend his WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles against Poland's Michal Cieslak (28-2, 22 KOs), the WBC champion, on Saturday, December 5 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The fight was announced on Thursday, October 22, and the card will be a PBC pay-per-view on DAZN.

Several US outlets had first pointed to December 12 in Phoenix. The fight ends up a week earlier, still in the Phoenix area.

Benavidez in his third division

Benavidez won the WBA and WBO cruiserweight (200 lb) belts in May, stopping Mexico's Gilberto Ramirez in the sixth round at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to become a three-division world champion after super middleweight and light heavyweight. He has not fought in his home state of Arizona since beating Canada's David Lemieux for the WBC super middleweight title in May 2022. ESPN ranks him fourth pound-for-pound.

Cieslak won the interim WBC title in June 2025 with a fourth-round knockout of Canada's Jean Pascal. He was elevated to full champion this year after the WBC stripped Noel Mikaelian, who had not made his mandatory defence against Benavidez.

Ortiz vs. Thurman in the co-main

The co-feature pits Vergil Ortiz Jr. (24-0, 22 KOs) against Keith Thurman (31-2, 23 KOs) over 12 rounds at middleweight. Ortiz has not fought since November, when he stopped Erickson Lubin in two rounds. Thurman, a former unified welterweight champion, was stopped by Sebastian Fundora in the sixth round in March.

Emiliano Vargas (18-0), son of former two-time world champion Fernando Vargas, is also booked for a 10-round super lightweight bout, opponent to be named.

The result matters in France too. Leonardo Mosquea, unbeaten in 19 fights, is the WBA's number one cruiserweight. He fights the same night in Décines, near Lyon, against Croatia's Marko Calic, and is waiting for his title shot.