David Benavidez is predicting he’s going to steal the present from the principle occasion battle by knocking out his opponent Oleksandr Gvozdyk of their chief help bout tonight of their conflict for the WBC interim mild heavyweight title on the MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment in Las Vegas.
Whereas Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) is respectful of Gvozdyk’s expertise and his accomplishments throughout his novice and professional profession, he feels it’s his future to win, look nice, and steal the thunder from the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Frank Martin headliner.
Contemplating that Tank-Martin is predicted to be a blowout win for Tank, there’s probability Benavidez may have the efficiency of the night time if his energy carries as much as the 175-lb division in opposition to Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs), who’s a greater puncher than him.
Benavidez has the work fee, velocity, and youth benefit over the 37-year-old former WBC mild heavyweight champion Gvozdyk.
“I skilled very effectively for Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He was a embellished novice and has a medal within the Olympics. He’s a person with nice expertise,” mentioned David Benavidez to First Take. “For this battle, I skilled for 4 months in my coaching camp. I’m seeking to steal the present and get a knockout of Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
A Promise to Steal the Present
“I’m going to go in there and steal the present. I’m going to go in there and knock out Oleksandr Gvozdyk,” mentioned Benavidez.
Benavidez, 27, ought to keep away from getting caught up in attempting to impress an excessive amount of on this battle as a result of Gvozdyk can explode with highly effective combos and finish a battle shortly.
We noticed him do this in opposition to Adonis Stevenson, and he’s seemed harmful in his final two fights, scoring fast knockouts.
“I don’t assume David’s punching energy goes to be an issue. I don’t assume David’s strain goes to be an issue,” mentioned tremendous middleweight Lionell ‘Lonnie B’ Thompson to Fighthype about his perception that Gvozdyk will defeat Benavidez.
Benavidez Has Been “Protected Higher”
“I don’t assume David’s expertise shall be an issue. I believe he has far more expertise than David. I simply assume David has been protected higher. From what I’ve seen of each fighters after they battle, I acquired him beating David.”
Gvozdyk does have higher expertise than Benavidez, and he’s been skilled with one of the best from his novice days in Ukraine. Benavidez has gotten away with utilizing his dimension and quantity. He hasn’t needed to develop his technical expertise as a result of he’s been a lot greater than his opposition at 168, and he’s confronted lesser opposition.
As Lonnie B factors out, Benavidez has been “Protected” higher by his administration than Gvozdyk has.
What he means by that’s Benavidez hasn’t purposefully matched in opposition to guys like David Lemieux, Demetrius Andrade, and Caleb Plant somewhat than preventing gifted opposition like David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia, and Dmitry Bivol. Benavidez is arguably a advertising creation like many fighters, who spoon-fed winnable fights to show them into faux stars.
Boxing is a enterprise, and it’s the promoters’ job to create fighters to attract with a sure demographic. It will assist if a fighter may grow to be a crossover star like Oscar De La Hoya, however he had actual expertise and fought one of the best his total profession.
Benavidez is a fighter who has fought exterior of his pure weight class, mild heavyweight and matched in opposition to beatable fighters to make him look higher than he’s.
“David is used to preventing blown up 154 and 160-pounders and being comfy in fights,” mentioned Lonnie B. “He’s so massive and so tall. These guys he’s preventing are my peak and smaller than me. He’s used to being comfy strolling guys down, proper hand. ‘You going to get drained, you too small.”
Benavidez has had the scale benefit in opposition to everybody he’s fought throughout his profession, and it was attention-grabbing to see him lastly dealing with somebody as massive as him. He seemed intimidated on Friday, staring throughout at Gvozdyk. You could possibly see it in Benavidez’s eyes him considering, ‘Man, I may lose this battle.’
Gvozdyk’s Energy
“Now, he’s preventing somebody his dimension, massive and may punch. He’s going to need to put out some work,” mentioned Lonnie B. “He’s going to have to come back out of his shell and battle. This proper right here together with his protection. He’s going to need to do one thing completely different.”
Benavidez all the time walks his opponents down behind a excessive guard and throws a straight proper adopted by a left hook. He’ll then rattle off a rapid-fire mixture, and it really works in opposition to the opposition his administration has fed him each time.
“Gvozdyk can punch, and he’s large enough to maintain David off. He’s been hit with guys that may punch higher than David, and he’s fought guys method higher than him. Do you assume Benavidez punches more durable than Adonis Stevenson? Do you assume Benavidez punches more durable than Beterbiev?” mentioned Lonnie B.
