Benavidez shows signs of wear

David Benavidez turned 28 today, December 17, as he prepares to fight regular WBA 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 fresh cut. He feels that these injuries prevented him from being 100%. This is what I was afraid of. Benavidez is starting to unravel after a long, long career in the sport.

Benavidez’s injury problems

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

The injuries Benavidez is starting to suffer could be a sign that his body is breaking down after a long career. Although he is still young at 28 years old, he has been in the sport for 11 years. Many fighters are physically shot when they are in their tenth year in the professional game. It has nothing to do with chronological age.

The physical deterioration is due to wear and tear and Benavidez could show early signs. The hands come first, followed by reflexes and resistance to the punch. He hasn’t faced any punchers during his career aside from Gvozdyk, 37, who was lighting him up in their clash at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Benavidez made it through that fight without being knocked out, but received terrible punishment from Gvozdyk.

David might be kidding himself because he was never a puncher, not even at 168. His knockouts came thanks to his volume of punches against older and lesser fighters, and he has never shown any hint of power during his 11-year career.

Benavidez looked the same as always, power-wise, and the only difference was that his shots had no effect at 175, as they had against the smaller veterans he had been fighting at 168. He was huge for that division and was compared him to mostly older figures in recent years by his promoters. Going up to 175, Benavidez’s power was not the same and it clearly had nothing to do with both of his hands being injured.

Signs of decay

“I had a lot of injuries before this fight. Seven weeks before the fight, I tore a ligament or tendon (in my right hand). “It was a pretty serious injury,” David Benavidez told tobintalking 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 that. ‘Well, I don’t understand that. I’m going to go ahead and use my left hand and hopefully by the time the (Gvozdyk) fight comes, this (right hand) will be recovered. So, I’m throwing jabs and the fight is five weeks away and I hit the guy (sparring partner) on the top of the head.

“In fact, I broke it and I couldn’t use that (left hand) either. That hurt a lot,” Benavidez said, noting that both hands were injured while heading into his fight against former WBC light heavyweight champion Gvozdyk, 37. “Then I thought, ‘I’m not going to cancel the fight anyway.’ So I’m going to give him some time to recover.’”

The Gvozdyk fight was going to be a do-or-die fight for Benavidez, regardless of his injuries, as this guy was levels above the guys he’d been feasting on at 168. Who did Benavidez beat at 168 What can be called a good fighter? ? These three are the best Benavidez fought during his super middleweight career: Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade and Anthony Dirrell. We’re not talking about A-level guys. Those are B-level fighters, and two of them were very old.

“Two weeks later, I’m training there again, and in the 12th round, I got cut on my (left) eye,” Benaviez continued about his injury problem. “I receive 13 points. I was devastated. 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 a lot to me, and this is very important to the boxing people and the PBC people.

“I say, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go in and pray that my hands are healthy. My resistance is there. I’m just going to continue with the fight.’ I’m not kidding. I’m in the locker room and I’m hitting the gloves. I feel my hand (left) swelling. I feel like this (right hand) hurts. “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. He is likely to suffer injuries during his training camp for the fight with Morrell. If he does not postpone the fight, he will go into the match against the Cuban Morrell with injuries to one or both hands. That’s not the type of guy Benavidez can afford to deal with injuries because this talent will tear him apart.

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

Contrary to what Benafvidez says, he did NOT do a “great job” in his fight against Gvozdyk. That match looked 100% like it was a 12-round draw. While the judges did Benavidez a favor by giving him the win, he can’t count on a decision against Morrell because he will take the judges out of the equation with his punching power.