Though the "Mexican Monster" impressed, Hall of Famer Tim Bradley knows one fighter who would give him all sorts of issues in the ring.

“[Dmitry] Bivol has the perfect style to beat him,” Bradley said on his YouTube channel. “I like me some David Benavidez, I can’t wait til he fights again but Bivol is a recipe for disaster. Would it be a fight? Hell yeah it would be a fight. David Benavidez don’t go nowhere easy. But when you got good feet that matches with this [points to his head] and you understand the sweet science, Benavidez has a high IQ too, he does, but he’s stubborn. Bivol isn’t stubborn.”

Immediately after becoming the cruiserweight division’s WBA and WBO champion, Benavidez, who still holds WBC light heavyweight title, said that Bivol is his No. 1 target. He also revealed that preliminary talks have already begun between their teams.

First things first, though, Bivol (24-1, 12 KOs) has to take care of business. The 35-year-old defends his Ring, IBF and WBA 175-pound titles against Michael Eifert in Russia on May 30. It will be his first outing since undergoing back surgery at the tail end of 2025.

Benavidez, The Ring’s No. 5-rated pound-for-pound fighter, said that he’ll need time to get back down in weight, suggesting that he could be ready to return to the light heavyweight division at the end of 2026.

A fight between Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) and Bivol could come down to a battle between Benavidez’s pressure and Bivol’s ability to box and keep things at a distance. Nevertheless, Bradley is convinced that Bivol could do a lot that would catch Benavidez off guard.

“Bivol is one of those guys that will do the complete opposite of what you think he’ll do,” Bradley said. “Y’all probably don’t think that he won’t step to Benavidez but he’ll step to his ass. Then, he might even revert back to boxing. Bivol is a different animal. Bivol is cut from that same cloth, that top-tier cloth.”