Mikaelian faces being stripped if he avoids David Benavidez
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has warned Noel Mikaelian that he must fight mandatory challenger David Benavidez or lose his cruiserweight title.
WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian faces the possibility of losing his world title if he does not accept a fight against David Benavidez. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has issued this warning to the 35-year-old champion.
Sulaiman has demanded that Mikaelian and promoter Don King reach an agreement to face Benavidez. The American fighter has successfully lobbied the WBC to be positioned as the mandatory challenger in the division. Benavidez made his debut at 200lbs in May, where he stopped Gilberto Ramirez in the sixth round to become a three-division world champion.
That victory allowed Benavidez to secure the WBO and WBA cruiserweight titles while also keeping his WBC light-heavyweight belt. Although he has the option to return to the 175lb weight class, he has chosen to stay at cruiserweight.
Mikaelian has already signed to fight Jai Opetaia on September 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Opetaia secured his position as Zuffa Boxing’s cruiserweight champion following a unanimous decision win over Brandon Glanton. This scheduled bout will take place on the undercard of the Ryan Garcia versus Conor Benn fight.
A match between Mikaelian and Benavidez appears difficult to arrange as the champion seeks to avoid working with Don King. Despite this tension, Benavidez is expected to move forward with a unification match for his three belts. He may face the WBC interim champion, Michal Cieslak, in that contest.
Cieslak is a veteran from Poland who won his interim title by stopping Jean Pascal in four rounds. The interim champion has not competed in a cruiserweight bout since his victory in June 2025.