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November’s trilogy bout between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol has forced the light heavyweight contenders into risky territory. David Benavidez, who inherited the WBC title when Bivol relinquished rather than defend against him, is now looking for a big fight in October and is fishing for Callum Smith or Anthony Yarde.

The problem is Smith might just be too tricky and Yarde not quite good enough. Furthermore would Smith want to risk jeopardising his own prospects of facing the trilogy winner by laying it on the line against unbeaten Benavidez?

Yarde has lost on each occasion he has stepped up to world level, falling to Sergey Kovalev and Beterbiev. I believe he would go the same way against Benavidez.

I have a lot of time for Yarde. He’s dedicated and committed but Benavidez is all wrong for him. He would smash the jab in Yarde’s face and make him freeze.

Yarde is not fleet-footed. He does not dance around the ring and would play right into the hands of Benavidez, who likes to walk you down.

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Smith is different. He’s good on the inside as well as the outside, and that left hook to the body would be a big threat to Benavidez, who was down in the 11th en route to victory over David Morrell last time out.

Benavidez is aggressive. He throws you all over the place, overwhelms with his physicality. He sets a high pace and punches hard. He called out Canelo forever but outgrew the super middleweight division. And now Bivol has vacated rather than face him.

Smith would definitely exchange with him, as he showed in beating Joshua Buatsi. Benavidez is busier than Buatsi, more aggressive, applying pressure and cutting off the ring.

He certainly wouldn’t want to give Smith any room, because when he punches long he is devastating. Benavidez has a granite chin but is vulnerable to the body. Smith is good enough to expose that weakness.

It’s a great fight and I’m not sure Benavidez wins it. His team clearly fancies it, but they have to persuade him that taking the fight is a better option than holding out for the winner of November’s showpiece.

Smith’s victory over Buatsi was a game-changer bringing him back into the picture after the defeats to Canelo and Beterbiev.

Benavidez is looking at a date in October, with a bill in Liverpool as part of the deal should Smith accept. There isn’t an easy answer because whichever way Smith jumps there isn’t an easy fight. That’s championship boxing.

Follow Barry on X at @‌ClonesCyclone @McGuigan’s_Gym