Benavidez will have a chance to become a three-division champion when he moves up to cruiserweight to face unified WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez on May 2 in the main event of a PBC PPV on Prime Video at T-Mobile Arena.

The WBC 175-pound champion believes he’ll be at his best at 200 and currently weighs 205, two months out.

“I think being at this weight is going to give me the chance to be the best version of myself,” Benavidez told The Ring on Friday. “I'm a bigger guy and like walking around heavier. Right now, I'm already close to hitting weight finally, thank God. I don't have to worry about the weight, so now, it's more of building muscle [and] the right muscle fibers we need to give us the power to finish this fight.”

Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs), rated No. 8 on The Ring's pound-for-pound list, made a successful first defense of his WBC light heavyweight title with a seventh-round stoppage of Anthony Yarde Nov. 22 in Saudi Arabia.

He hoped to face Ring and unified champion Dmitry Bivol for all four 175-pound titles or former undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev in his next fight. However, neither was immediately available, precipitating the cruiserweight jump to face former sparring partner Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs).

The 29-year-old from Phoenix said the move is a temporary one, at least for now, with plans on moving back to a more natural weight division after having an opportunity to translate sparring success in the professional ranks.

Benavidez acknowledges he must make the transition to 200 pounds and then back down to 175 intelligently. At the same time, he believes not having to cut a significant amount of weight will help every aspect of his game.

“It's different from where you have to make weight to just building weight and keeping that muscle,” Benavidez said. “It's going to be different. I'm thinking I'm going to be faster. Everything is going to be better, because I'm not going to have to cut weight. It's going to be a great fight.”