Benavidez vows to beat Yarde “better” than Beterbiev did

David Benavidez says his goal is to defeat Anthony Yarde in a “better” way than Artur Beterbiev did when he defends his WBC light heavyweight title against him in less than a month on November 22, 2025 in Riyadh.

Benavidez’s Beterbiev measure

Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) states that he is not sure if he will get the chance to fight the eventual winner of the trilogy fight between Dmitri Bivol and Arthur Beterbiev. If not, he wants to fight WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.

It’s too early for Benavidez, 28, to think about fighting anyone else. He has yet to defeat Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs), who could surprise him with his punching power. Yarde is more explosive and powerful than the other two fighters Benavidez fought at 175, David Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He had a lot of trouble against both of those guys.

“We’re two bulls going at it. It’s going to be a great fight,” David Benavidez said. talkSport Boxing. “Anthony Yarde is a pressure fighter, and I’m an emerging pressure fighter as well. I want to get a better win than Artur Beterbiev did. I want to make more of a statement than he did against Anthony Yarde.”

Yarde’s third and final shot

“This is his third attempt at a world title. He knows there’s a lot at stake in this fight. I’ve been working for 4.5 months. I’ve got to keep winning these fights and keep trying to fight the best opponents available,” Benavidez said when asked if he’d pick the winner of the Dmitry Bivol vs. Going to get Artur Beterbiev trilogy.

Tom Galm’s point of view: empty comparisons

It’s a waste of time for Benavidez to think about bettering Beterbiev’s performance. Yarde is now 34, and not the same guy he was two years ago at 32 when he fought Artur. Knocking him out faster than Beterbiev did won’t prove anything.

If there was a way to fight Yarde at that point in his career, then he had something to prove. Even then, it still wouldn’t mean that his performance tops what Beterbiev did. He didn’t try to KO him as quickly as possible. Beterbiev seemed focused on slowly breaking him down.