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David Benavidez says world champion is avoiding him after feeling his power in sparring

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David Benavidez believes one of the sport’s flagship champions is actively avoiding him, claiming there have been “multiple opportunities” to make the fight happen.

The WBC light-heavyweight champion is widely considered to be a top 10 pound-for-pound operator, capable of significantly enhancing his legacy over the next few years.

His immediate opportunity to do so will arrive on May 2, when Benavidez bids to become a three-division world champion against WBO and WBA cruiserweight titlist Gilberto Ramirez.

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Irrespective of the result this weekend, the 29-year-old has said he will move back down to 175lbs and pursue an undisputed showdown with Dmitry Bivol.

The unified light-heavyweight champion is gearing up to defend his titles against mandatory challenger Michael Eifert, headlining a card at the UMMC Arena, Russia, on May 30.

This represents his first outing since defeating Artur Beterbiev in their immediate rematch, which saw Bivol exact his revenge with a majority decision victory in February 2025.

Should he wish to become a two-time undisputed king, then the 35-year-old must ultimately face Benavidez, who insists he got the better of their sparring session around eight years ago.

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Back then, the pair had already shared numerous rounds, yet Benavidez has told Ariel Helwani that Bivol came away from their final spar with far less confidence.

“They can say whatever they want… He’s felt my power up close and personal. I felt his power up close and personal, too, but I got the better of that. I got the better of that last sparring session we had.

“I don’t let that get to my head because I know I have to come extremely prepared for him, but I feel like that [sparring session] kind of got stuck in his head.

“We’ve had multiple opportunities to make this fight happen, and it hasn’t happened, so I think that speaks volumes on its own.”

Benavidez was elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBC champion after Bivol vacated the belt last year, but this was largely because the Russian needed to undergo back surgery.

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Penguins fend off elimination again with Game 5 win over Flyers

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PITTSBURGH — Connor Dewar, Kris Letang and Elmer Soderblom scored and the Pittsburgh Penguins avoided elimination for the second time in 48 hours with a 3-2 win over Philadelphia in Game 5 of their first-round series on Monday night.

Sidney Crosby shook off a shot to his left knee to add two assists for the Penguins, who cut the Flyers lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2.

Game 6 is Wednesday in Philadelphia, where the pressure will be on the Flyers to avoid putting themselves in danger of becoming just the fifth team in NHL history to blow a series after winning the first three games.

Alex Bump scored his first goal of the playoffs for Philadelphia, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie it on Travis Sanheim’s second goal of the series 15:06 into the second.

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Crosby, who limped to the bench and then to the training room for treatment minutes earlier after a blast from the point by teammate Ryan Shea appeared to hit the top of his left knee, helped put the Penguins back in front just over two minutes later when he fed the puck to Letang at the top of the Philadelphia zone.

Letang sent a shot toward Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar that sailed wide of the net before bouncing back toward Vladar. The puck smacked off Vladar’s left pad, then his right and across the goal line to give Pittsburgh the lead for good.

After four games of mostly low-event hockey, Game 5 started with a frantic pace, a style that favors the Penguins, who finished as the NHL’s third-highest-scoring team during the regular season.

That offense went largely missing while Pittsburgh fell into a 3-0 hole. Pushed to the brink, it has returned with a flourish, and this time it wasn’t just Crosby, Letang and Evgeni Malkin shouldering the burden.

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Soderblom scored on Pittsburgh’s first shot, taking a pass from Anthony Mantha originally intended for Ben Kindel and banging it home from the slot to give the Penguins the lead just 2:45 into the game. Dewar doubled it 3:17 into the second when his shot from the left circle rifled over Vladar’s right shoulder.

Bump needed just 12 seconds to cut the deficit to one when he bore in on Arturs Silovs and jammed it by the goaltender. Sanheim’s shot from the left circle, one that deflected off Pittsburgh’s Erik Karlsson, drew the Flyers even, but only briefly.

There was little space in the third period, with the Penguins clogging up shooting lanes to send the series back to the eastern side of the state.

Pittsburgh will take the ice on Wednesday, having all the momentum after two games in which they looked like the resilient, resourceful group that was among the NHL’s biggest surprises.

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The Flyers and their late playoff surge were one of the others, though Philadelphia and its young core will have the difficult task of finishing off a more experienced group with Hall of Famers scattered across the roster.

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Seth Rollins blames 28-year-old star for not headlining WrestleMania 42 this year

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Seth Rollins came out in the opening segment of Monday Night RAW and had quite the intense segment, with a huge match finally being set (but not made official yet). He blamed a 28-year-old star for not headlining WrestleMania this year.

Technically speaking, Seth Rollins has headlined WrestleMania thrice. However, he has only had two proper WrestleMania main events – headlining the Saturday editions of WrestleMania 40 and 41. Last year, he was victorious in the main event of night one as he defeated both Roman Reigns and CM Punk, which is where the entire Vision storyline began. However, his alliance with Paul Heyman didn’t quite work out, and his World Heavyweight Championship reign ended with The Vision brutalizing him. And as it looked like he returned on time and would have been ready to face Bron Breakker, he ended up facing Gunther instead at WrestleMania 42. Las Vegas was where Bron Breakker made his comeback, and he cost Seth Rollins big time.

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Seth Rollins told Bron Breakker that he was the reason he didn’t headline WrestleMania 42 this year.

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The entire segment was made to set the stage for the clash between Rollins and Bron Breakker. Breakker didn’t exactly sit silently as well. He completely roasted Rollins, telling him that he was the best at being second-best.

That’s a huge shot because Rollins has infamously been in that #2 spot in the company for quite a long time, never quite reaching the level of Roman Reigns despite having a fantastic record against The OTC in head-to-head competition. It’s one of those paradoxes that will be looked back on because Rollins has almost always had Reigns’ number, especially in big matches where it has mattered the most, but he could never quite reach the same heights that his Shield brother did.