Benavidez rages as Yarde demands outstanding power at 175

David Benavidez fired up during an interview today when he shared that Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) said he had the better ‘one push force.’ Yarde’s comment is considered accurate by fans, as Benavidez is a volume guy who wins by burying his opponents with his output.

Benavidez didn’t like hearing from Yarde that his power was superior, but that comment reflected the general belief. Is Yarde simply speaking the truth that Benavidez stubbornly refuses to face? His punch died at the boundary between 168 and 175. ‘The Mexican Monster’ hasn’t come close to knocking out either of the two fighters he’s faced since moving up to light heavyweight, and he’s taken a boatload of punishment in those two fights alone.

The Morrell blueprint

We saw in Benavidez’s last fight against David Morrell that his power was not at the same level as the Cuban. At the end of the match, Benavidez’s face looked beaten beyond recognition. In contrast, Morrell was unmarked. This is a sign that his power has not taken off from the super middleweight division. Benavidez was injured twice by Morrell and fell in the 11th round.

The style of fighting that ‘The Mexican Monster’ employs, in which he sets up shop, stands at close range, fires off rapid-fire combinations, puts him in danger of being nailed by the more powerful 175-pounder. What Morrell did to Benavidez could be just a taste of what Yarde will do Saturday night if nothing changes with his primitive fighting style. That approach would work if Benavidez possessed true light heavyweight power, but he doesn’t.

Benefiting from the fact that he is significantly larger than his opponents at 168 and 175, Benavidez has often been labeled a ‘weight bully’ by hardcore fans.

“I’m going there to take care of business first, and whatever big fight we can make after that, I’m 100% willing to make whatever fight happen,” said David Benavidez. MillCity Boxingon his focus if he emerges victorious in his title defense against Anthony Yarde this Saturday night in Riyadh.

‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) declares that he will knock out Yarde when he defends his WBC light heavyweight title against him this Saturday, November 22, at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

This is a fight where there is a possibility that Benavidez could lose because he has not landed any knockouts since moving up to the 175-lb division. Additionally, he was hurt in both of his fights in the division against Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“A lot of people say they can land on me and knock me out. But I think they have to worry about themselves first,” Benavidez said. “They have to worry about covering every side of themselves because I can go to the body. I can go to the head. There’s a lot of stuff I can do. Anthony Yarde got stopped twice. So, he has to worry about not getting stopped a third time.”

Benavidez in denial mode

The look on Benavidez’s face as he spoke was that of an angry person. He looked like he was starting to boil over from just that simple comment from Yarde about being blessed with superior power. I’m not sure why Benavidez would get so enraged about that. This suggests that he has a skewed view of his power and believes himself to be something he is not. Why did an innocuous comment about power send the “Mexican Monster” into meltdown mode? Is it insecurity, or is he beginning to suspect the reality of his limitations? For Benavidez to snap at such a simple comment suggests he knows he can’t own, and it infuriates him that his opponent, Yarde, noticed.

Yarde is actually doing Benavidez a favor by letting him know that he has better power than he does because it will give him a chance to adjust his game before Saturday night. The last thing Benavidez needs to do is fight like a primitive Neanderthal from 400,000 years ago against a fighter with Yarde’s punching power and gets his cleaned up. This is how Benavidez has fought throughout his career. The only reason he got by is his size advantage, as he appears to be a cruiserweight after rehydrating for fights at 168 and 175.

“I’m prepared for anything he throws my way,” Benavidez said of Yarde. “I don’t think about whether he can hurt me. I go in there and I try to stop his a**, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”