He was 250 pounds by the time he was 12, whereas Jose was an amateur star and top pro prospect.

Seventeen years later, the younger Benavidez is a two-division champion promoted as “The Mexican Monster," on the cusp of superstardom. He has intentionally added weight the past few months, and in much healthier fashion, for his cruiserweight title fight against Gilberto Ramirez on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.

If Benavidez beats his formidable former sparring partner in their pay-per-view main event, he’ll join James Toney as a super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight champion — a feat Ramirez couldn’t accomplish.

Mexico’s Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs) suffered his lone loss 3½ years ago to the opponent Phoenix’s Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) wants to face most, unified light heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol. Benavidez intends to move back down to the light heavyweight (175 pounds) in hopes of landing that fight next.

First, however, he must overcome a durable, huge southpaw who, unlike virtually every opponent Benavidez beat, won’t work at a size disadvantage. Ramirez stands about an inch taller and is 4-0 at cruiserweight, including decisive decisions against champions Arsen Goulamirian (WBA) and Chris Billam-Smith (WBO) in back-to-back bouts in 2024.

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Benavidez: “I think from what I’ve seen from him now, obviously he’s slower, but he has more power. He’s moved up in weight, he’s a bigger guy, so the stature and the weight is there. It’s boxing, so you’ve got to take that very serious. But I have to give him credit because he’s champion. He became champion at cruiserweight before me. He’s the champion right now and I have to take him very seriously.”

Ramirez: “I feel like it’ll be a huge fight. It’s a war. It’s the weekend of May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. I think everyone needs to tune in and need to see this fight. He’s my friend.I like him, but at the end of the day we’re fighting and we try to win this fight and we try to put [on] a great show for everyone.”

DraftKings listed Benavidez as a -390 favorite over Ramirez (+290) on Thursday. Ramirez has never been knocked out, which is reflected in the over (-360) and under (+250) on their fight lasting 10½ rounds.

DraftKings considers a Benavidez victory by decision as the most likely outcome (-135), whereas the odds on their bout resulting in a draw are the longest (+1800). The odds on Benavidez winning by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification are +280 and Ramirez beating Benavidez by KO, TKO or DQ are +850.

Armando Resendiz will defend his WBA super middleweight title against another all-action Mexican Jaime Munguia in the co-feature. Their styles should enable them to produce a very competitive, entertaining fight. Resendiz (16-2, 11 KOs) considers a victory over Munguia as his path toward fighting former undisputed champ Canelo Alvarez sometime in 2027.

Munguia (45-2, 35 KOs), who lost a unanimous decision to Alvarez in May 2024, avenged his shocking knockout loss to Bruno Surace in his last bout, an immediate rematch he won by unanimous decision almost a year ago.

Munguia’s long layoff was caused in large part due to testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug following his win against Surace. He was eventually cleared by the British Boxing Board of Control, which regulated the event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On pay-per-view in the United States through Amazon’s Prime Video and DAZN ($79.99). Subscribers to DAZN’s Ultimate plan can view the pay-per-view portion of the card for no additional charge ($44.99 monthly in the U.S.; £24.99 in the UK). The show starts at 8 p.m. ET in the U.S. and 1 a.m. BST in the UK.