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Philippines, 01 May 2024 |
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David Benavidez Dream Fights By Ralph Rimpell PhilBoxing.com Wed, 31 Mar 2021  David Benavidez. Back in 2017 a fellow boxing writer told me about this new kid on the block (proverbially speaking) called David Benavidez. My initial response was, “David Who?”. He repeated the name, David Benavidez. He told me Benavidez fights at 168 lbs, and he is the “real deal”. The “real deal” meaning Benavidez is gonna be a world champion and a boxing star someday. As a Boxing writer who wants to accurately report boxing news, I started watching Benavidez’s fight’s and I read whatever information was available about him at the time. I learned that Benavidez was overweight as a child weighing as high as 250lbs. His brother is also a fighter that held an interim world 140lb title. Reports were when Benavidez sparred with top fighters, he more than held his own in the gym. One of those top fighters was current IBF middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin during his first reign as middleweight champion when “Triple G” was officially undefeated, and he was a feared fighter at the time. Benavidez and his brother are both trained by their father, and their family has had more of their share of up and downs like many families. My Colleague was correct with his assessment of the young fighter. Benavidez did become a world champion twice in the 168lbs division. He is an imposing 6’1½" with excellent punching power and sports a current boxing record of 23-0, 20KOs and is only 24 years old. His first reign was back in 2017 when he defeated Ronald Gavril for the vacant WBC title via split decision. He made one defense in his first reign, which was a rematch with Gavril, which he won. In 2018 he was suspended and stripped of his title for a positive cocaine test. After his suspension, he fought top contender J’Leon Love. He overwhelmed J’Leon Love knocking him out in 2 rounds. I was impressed with his performance as I was in the arena to witness it. By then the new WBC 168lbs champion was Anthony Dirrell. Benavidez fought the tough Dirrell who only lasted 9 rounds and once again Benavidez was champion. For his first defense of his title, he was to face Roamer Alexis Angulo. Benavidez did not make the 168 lbs weight limit and was again stripped of the title for not making weight. The fight still proceeded, and he knocked out Angulo in 10 rounds. He was once again without his ticket (WBC title) to “Big fights”. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 37KOs) has stated he will now campaign at 168lbs. His stated goal is to unify the division and eventually hold all four titles (WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO). When Canelo fought former WBA champion Callum Smith last December for his title, the vacant WBC 168 lbs title was contested for as well. Canelo has accomplished half his goal when he defeated Smith and now is the unified WBA (Super) and WBC 168 lbs champion. He is scheduled to fight WBO 168 lbs champion Billy Joe Saunders in May 2021 and IBF 168 lbs champion Caleb Plant in September 2021. All Canelo must do is keep winning, which he likely will continue to do. Benavidez has stated he wants to first fight 160lbs WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, then 168lbs IBF champion Caleb Plant, then finally he wants to fight unified 168lbs champion Canelo. He has said he can beat Canelo by knockout. Maybe he can defeat Canelo. If that’s the way it happens, then it would be a dream come true for Benavidez. Let’s examine each fight Benavidez desires and why it will likely not happen in the foreseeable future. A fight with Jermall Charlo is the easiest fight to sign. He and Benavidez both are represented by Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). Charlo would have to come up to 168lbs to fight Benavidez. There have been reports that Charlo may agree to fight Benavidez. Charlo, reportedly, requested that Benavidez fight at a “catchweight” (a weight mutually agreed upon by both fighters to fight) and be vaccinated for COVID 19. Benavidez agreed to the vaccine, but not to the catchweight as he indicated it was Charlo who challenged him. This writer has heard nothing more from Charlo except that Charlo, like Benavidez, want’s the big money fight against Canelo. Charlo was elevated from WBC interim Champion when Canelo vacated the WBC middleweight title to stay at 168lbs. What big money option is there for Charlo at 160lbs? Is IBF Gennady Golovkin willing to unify against him? Reports were Golovkin was in serious negotiation to fight former WBO 154lbs champion Jaime Munguia. That fight was not signed and there are no known reported negotiations for Charlo and Golovkin to unify their titles in a fight. If Charlo were to fight Benavidez, is the fight purse worth the risk? Or is it better for Charlo to move up to 168lbs and eventually earn fight at 168lbs with Canelo. I think Charlo would choose the latter option and doesn’t fight Benavidez right away. IBF 168lbs Caleb Plant beat his mandatory title defense against challenger Caleb Truax. It appears to all be within the rules. He can now have a voluntary defense against who he chooses. Guess who that will be against? It will no doubt be Canelo, if Canelo defeats Saunders as planned. That means all Plant must do is be patient and hope that Canelo wins and doesn’t get injured when he faces Saunders. It’s the smart move. Plant will likely ignore Benavidez’s challenges for a fight as he can make more money against Canelo than against Benavidez. A fight against Benavidez could be forced if a scenario like Saunders defeats Canelo and the two decide to rematch. Then Plant could fight whom he chooses as a voluntary defense but would have to fight Benavidez if he became his mandatory fight for the IBF title. That scenario is likely not going to happen. Benavidez has boldly stated he can knock Canelo! Maybe he can or maybe he can’t. That prediction remains to be seen if the two fighters ever meet in the ring. Both he and Canelo are the two best fighters at 168lbs and a fight between the two would be a huge financial Pay Per View (PPV) fight. Canelo is a true champion and it's foreseeable that if Canelo is the unified champion, if he defeats Saunders and then Plant, he will give Benavidez the opportunity to fight him. The first question is when? The second question is will Benavidez be able to remain at the 168lbs limit? He is 6’1" and only 24. He was stripped of his title for not making the weight limit. A Canelo fight must happen sooner than later. The big fights that could bring the most money for Benavidez is clearly at 168lbs, not at 175lbs were his growing body would likely be more comfortable. Benavidez has even predicted that Canelo will vacate the WBC title rather then give him an opportunity. If I were advising Benavidez, I would encourage him to challenge little known champions David Morrel for the 168lbs WBA (regular) title or even Fedor Chuvinov for the 168lbs WBA (gold) title. That would give him a belt and that would give him more of a bargaining chip to say, I want the opportunity to be elevated from WBA (regular) champion or from WBA (gold) champion to WBA (super) champion by defeating Canelo. It also would keep him active so as not to go too far up in weight from the 168lbs limit. To Benavidez's credit he has remained active and recently fought and defeated contender Ronald Ellis earlier this month by knockout. It’s good that Benavidez has the confidence in himself that he can defeat Charlo, Plant, and Canelo, but at this point it’s a Benavidez dream. To make that dream come true, which is possible, Benavidez must continue to stay active and keep challenging these fighters so whoever the eventual champion is fight fans can ask why aren’t you fighting David Benavidez; much the same way they are asking welterweight champions Errol Spence and Terrance Crawford why they still haven’t fought each other. Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com Boxing Notes Bob Arum of Top Rank Promotions says he will make a major announcement for a “Major fight” on PPV next week that involves WBO welterweight champion Terrance Crawford on PPV. Will it be a fight against future hall of famer Manny Pacquiao or Errol Spence? These are the two fights that fight fans want to see. Pacquiao-Crawford is a great fight, but Pacquiao matches up better with Mikey Garcia and if signed will do excellent PPV numbers. See my article on Pacquiao vs Mikey Garcia Makes Sense, If It Happens (http://philboxing.com/news/story-155147.html). Vergil Ortiz has expressed interest in fighting Crawford in his next fight, but that fight could be a lot bigger with a couple more victories by Ortiz. Shawn Porter or WBA welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas, who lost what many thought was controversial decision to Porter, is not a “Major fight” on PPV at this point. This writer will go on limb and PREDICT Crawford-Spence at the AT&T Center in July 2021…Who will Deontay Wilder fight next? Dillian Whyte is a very good and dangerous opponent and is now the WBC interim heavyweight champion. That is the quicker route to the winner of Fury-Tyson for Wilder. Then there’s former IBF heavyweight Champ Charles Martin. Both along with other fighters have been rumored as a comeback opponent for Wilder. Another question is, will Wilder bring in another trainer as one trainer (Mark Breland) was fired for unproven allegations of wrongdoing by Wilder. Jay Deas, Wilder’s other trainer was a former crime reporter, according to telegraph UK online, who turned boxing trainer as opposed to Breland who fought in the amateurs and compiled an amateur record of 110-1, 73 KOs winning Olympic gold medal in 1984 and was a 35-3-1 with two World Championships before retiring to eventually become a trainer. Perhaps another trainer for the long haul, not just for one fight would be wise. A trainer added to the team like an Abel Sanchez, Joe Goosen, or even a Freddie Roach could refine Wilder and make him even better. Not A Celebrity trainer which would likely be just fanfare and a distraction… ***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history. "I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.  |
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