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Monday, December 23, 2024

Benavidez is showing signs of wear and tear


David Benavidez turned 28 today, December 17, as he prepares to fight WBA regular light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1 in Las Vegas. The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez won the WBC interim light heavyweight title in his last fight in a lackluster performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) had to fight hard to win a 12-round unanimous decision against Gvozdyk. In an interview, Benavidez says he entered the fight with both hands injured and a recent cut. He feels those injuries have prevented him from being 100%. This is what I was afraid of. Benavidez is starting to wind down from a long, long career in the sport.

Benavidez’s injury problems

He’s 28, but he might as well be 38. Benavidez has been a pro for as long as undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, and he also suffers from repeated injuries. Being in the game for 10+ years does that to a fighter. It’s very difficult to continue fighting at the top level when a guy has been in the sport that long.

The injuries that Benavidez is starting to pick up could be a sign that his body is breaking down from a long career. Although he is still young at 28, he has been in the sport for 11 years. Many fighters are physically shot by the time they are in their 10th year in the pro game. It has nothing to do with chronological age.

The physical breakdown is from wear and tear, and Benavidez may be showing early signs. First go the hands, followed by reflexes and push resistance. He hasn’t fought any punchers during his career, apart from 37-year-old Gvozdyk, who lifted him in their clash at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Benavidez came through that fight without getting knocked out, but he took some terrible punishment from Gvozdyk.

David can be kidding himself because he was never a puncher, even at 168. His knockouts came from his volume hitting against older, lesser fighters., and he has never shown any hint of power during his 11 years career not.

Benavidez looked the same as ever, power-wise, and the only difference was that his shots didn’t have the same effect at 175 as they did against the smaller veterans he fought at 168. mostly older figures in recent years by his promoters. Moving up to 175, Benavidez’s power was not the same and clearly had nothing to do with both of his hands being injured.

Signs of deterioration

“I had a lot of injuries in this fight. Seven weeks into the fight I tore a ligament or a tendon (in right hand). It was a pretty serious injury,” David Benavidez said Tobinand talks about why he fought so poorly in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.

“They said I needed seven weeks to recover from it. “Well, I don’t have it. I’m going to go ahead and use my left hand, and hopefully, by the time the (Gvozdyk) fight comes around, this one (right hand) is going to be recovered. So, I throw a jab and it’s five weeks before the fight, and I hit the guy (sparring partner) on the top of the head.

“I actually broke it and couldn’t use it (left hand) either. It hurt a lot,” Benavidez said, noting that both of his hands were injured going into his fight against 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Gvozdyk. “So, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to cancel the fight anyway. So, I’m just going to give it some time to heal.’”

The Gvozdyk fight would be life and death for Benavidez, regardless of his injuries, because this guy was levels above the guys he feasted on at 168. Who beat Benavidez at 168 that you could call a good fighter? These three are the best Benavidez has fought during his career as a super middleweight: Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade and Anthony Dirrell. We’re not talking about A-level guys. These are B-level fighters, and two of them were very old.

“Two weeks later I struggled in there again, and in the 12th round I got my (left) eye cut,” Benaviez continued about his injury problem. “I get 13 stitches. I was torn. I didn’t know what to do. I have this injury (left hand) and this injury (right hand), and I have a cut. Because the fans mean so much to me, and it’s a big thing for the people of boxing and the people of PBC.

“I’m like, ‘You know what? I just go in there and pray that my hands are healthy. My stamina is there. I just carry on with the fight.’ I’m not mocking you. I’m in the locker room, and I hit the mitts. I feel my (left) hand swelling. I feel this (right hand) hurt. I’m already a little nervous.”

Morrell will capitalize

Like I said, Benavidez’s body is breaking down from a long career in the sport, and he probably doesn’t have much time left. It is likely that he will pick up injuries during his training camp for the Morrell fight. If he does not postpone the fight, he will enter the match against the Cuban Morrell with injuries to one or both hands. This is not the type of guy that Benavidez can afford to fight with injuries because he will be ripped apart by this talent.

“I went in there and I did a good job. I won eight or nine rounds against a veteran (Gvozdyk). He was a silver medalist in the Olympics, and he was a unified light heavyweight champion (correction: Gvozdyk is a former WBC 175-lb champion, NOT a unified former champion),” Benavidez said.

Contrary to what Benafvidez says, he did NOT do a “good job” in his fight against Gvozdyk. That match looked 100% like it should have gone to a 12 round draw. While the judges did Benavidez a favor by giving him the win, he can’t count on getting a gifted decision against Morrell as he will remove the judges from the equation with his matchups.



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