David Benavidez turned 28 today, December 17th, as he prepares to fight regular WBA lightweight champion David Morrell on February 1st in Las Vegas. The “Mexican Monster” Benavidez won the interim WBC lightweight title in his last fight in a lackluster performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) fought hard to win a 12-round unanimous decision against Gvozdyk. In an interview, Benavidez says he went into the fight with both injured hands and a recent cut. He feels these injuries have prevented him from being 100%. This is what I was afraid of. Benavidez began to break down from a long and long career in the sport.
Benavidez’s injury problems
He’s 28, but he might as well be 38. Benavidez has been a pro since the undisputed lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev, and he’s also suffered repeated injuries. Being in the game for more than 10 years makes it a struggle. It is very difficult to continue fighting at the highest level once a man has been in the sport for so long.
The injuries that Benavidez has started to sustain 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 wearing, and Benavidez could show the first signs. First, the hands go, followed by reflexes and punch resistance. During his career, he hasn’t beaten any puncher except Gvozdyk, 37, who lit him up in their bout at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Benavidez went through that fight undefeated, but took some terrible punishment from Gvozdyk.
David could be kidding himself because he was never a puncher, even at 168. His knockouts came from his punching volume against older, lesser fighters., and he never showed any modesty during his 11-year career.
Benavidez looked the same as always, in power, and the only difference was that his shots had no effect at 175, as they had against the smaller veterans he had fought at 168. It was huge for that division and was combined against. especially older figures in recent years from their promoters. Moving up to 175, Benavidez’s power wasn’t the same and clearly had nothing to do with his injured hands.
Signs of decay
“I had a lot of injuries in this fight. Seven weeks into the fight, I tore a ligament or tendon (in my right hand). It was a pretty severe injury,” said David Benavidez to TobinThey talk about why he fought so little in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.
“They said I need seven weeks to recover from this. ‘Well, I don’t have that. I’m going to go ahead and use my left hand, and hopefully, when the (Gvozdyk) fight comes, this (right hand) will be recovered. So, I throw jabs and there are five weeks before the fight, and I hit the guy (sparring partner) on the top of the head.
“I actually fractured it and I couldn’t even use that (left hand). That hurt a lot,” said Benavidez, indicating that his hands were injured while going into his fight against the former WBC champion of 37-year-old lightweight Gvozdyk. “So, I’m like, ‘I’m not going to cancel the fight anyway. So, I’ll just give it some time to heal.”
The Gvozdyk fight was going to be life and death for Benavidez, regardless of his injuries, as this guy was levels above the guys who had been party at 168. Who did Benavidez beat at 168 that you can call a good fight. ? 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 was sparring in there again, and in the 12th round, I cut myself on the eye (hand),” Benaviez continued about his injury problem. “I have 13 points. I was torn. I didn’t know what to do. I have this wound (left hand) and this wound (right hand), and I have a cut. Because the fans mean a lot to me, and this is a big deal for the boxing people and PBC people.
“I’m like, ‘You know what?’ I’m just going to go in there and pray that my hands are healthy. My stamina is there. I just want to continue with the fight. I kid you not. I’m on the way, and I take my gloves. I feel my hand (left) swollen. I feel this (right hand) hurt. I’m already a little nervous.”
Morrell will capitalize
As I said, Benavidez’s body is worn out from a long career in the sport, and he probably doesn’t have much time left. It is likely that he will suffer injuries during his training camp for the Morrell fight. If he does not postpone the fight, he will enter the contest against the Cuban Morrell with injuries to one or both hands. He is not the type of guy that Benavidez can afford to struggle with injuries because he will be cut by this talent.
“I went there, and I did a great job. I won eight or nine rounds against a veteran (Gvozdyk). He was a silver medalist in the Olympics, and he was a unified lightweight champion (correction: Gvozdyk is a former WBC 175-lb champion, NOT a former unified champion),” said Benavidez.
Contrary to what Benafvidez says, he did not do a “great job” in his fight against Gvozdyk. That match looked 100% like it should have scored a 12 round draw. While the judges did Benavidez a favor by giving him the win, he can’t count on being awarded a decision against Morrell because he’ll take the judges out of the equation with his power punch.
