The newly crowned WBA/WBO cruiserweight champion contended after knocking out Gilberto Ramirez, though, that his potential opponents need to come to fight him in the United States, preferably at T-Mobile Arena.

The unbeaten Benavidez is an emerging gate attraction in the U.S. and has drawn large crowds, though not sellouts, twice to the Las Vegas venue reserved for boxing’s biggest stars since it opened in 2016.

Premier Boxing Champions didn’t announce an attendance figure for the card headlined by Benavidez’s destruction of Ramirez. Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) made it clear afterward, however, that he intends to fight on the next Mexican-themed boxing weekend in Las Vegas because Canelo Alvarez will face WBC super middleweight champ Christian Mbilli on September 12 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"I think it's in the best interests for my career to keep trying to fight May 5th and September 14th," Benavidez said after headlining on Cinco de Mayo weekend for the first time. “Canelo's over there in Saudi Arabia, so he leaves it wide open for me. This is a great date, we put on a great show for the people and I've earned it.

"I've been professional for 13 years, since I was 16 years old. I started from the bottom and went all the way to the top, calling out the best of the best. I did it the hard way. Nothing was ever given to me. So, now that I'm here, I think I deserve to fight on this card on this date, and I'm gonna keep giving the fans what they wanna see on [these dates]."

Alvarez, 35, has boxed on Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day weekends in Las Vegas 13 times since May 2012. The Mexican superstar attended the Benavidez-Ramirez card as a fan to support Jaime Munguia, who is guided by Alvarez's career-long trainer and manager, Eddy Reynoso.

Benavidez, 29, called for Alvarez to fight him yet again Saturday night. That taunting notwithstanding, the WBC light heavyweight champ, who was raised in Phoenix and resides in Miami, has all but accepted that he'll never get the opportunity to battle the sport's biggest star.

The No. 5 fighter on The Ring's pound-for-pound list is more optimistic about challenging a lower-profile fighter who upset Alvarez by unanimous decision in May 2022 at T-Mobile Arena.

Dmitry Bivol might prefer a rubber match with Russian rival Artur Beterbiev if he beats German underdog Michael Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs) on May 30 in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

If Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) is interested in boxing Benavidez after facing Eifert, Benavidez doesn't think he should have to travel to Saudi Arabia or another international destination, despite Bivol being The Ring, IBF, WBA and WBO champ.

The same principle applies to Ring cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia (30-0, 23 KOs), the only opponent Benavidez wants to fight should he remain at cruiserweight.

“I think [a fight with Bivol] would be better in the United States, only because I sell more than him [in the U.S. than Bivol sells] over there,” Benavidez said.

“You know, the whole house was packed tonight. That’s something that I worked really, really hard to do. It’s not easy to pack out the T-Mobile Arena. And we did that not only once, we did it twice. We did it once with David Morrell and then again tonight. So, I mean, I got the ball in my hands. I’m the one that’s filling out these stadiums, the one that’s fighting [on] pay-per-view.

“Jai Opetaia has never fought pay-per-view, never filled out an arena like this. His last fight was in the Zuffa [Boxing] place [Meta APEX]. And I’m not even trying to be disrespectful, it’s just those are the facts. So, I mean, if they want me to go over there to Saudi Arabia, why?

“They gotta pay me some good money to make it over there. Or they could come here, we could come to the table right here. But I don’t know, I’ve worked really, really hard and everything I got now I deserve and I worked hard for it, so you know, if they wanna come to the table over here, we could do it. Let’s get it.”

Benavidez beat England’s Anthony Yarde by seventh-round technical knockout in the main event of “The Ring IV: Night of the Champions” card November 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh. Though that proved Benavidez’s willingness to fight there, five of his past six fights have taken place in Las Vegas.