Middleweight title contender Shane Mosley Jr. believes adolescent fighter David Benavidez’s upside will allow him to beat Canelo Alvarez if the two fight this year.
The 27-year-old Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is seven years younger than the 34-year-old Canelo Alvarez and has yet to have such tough fights as he has against fighters such as Gennady Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Jaime Munguia, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Dmitry Bivol and Sergey Kovalev.
Benaviez’s resume is tender in comparison, and that’s one reason he’s been criticized so much. He had an straightforward ride to the top, with only one notable name on his main roster, Caleb Plant, and Canelo has already knocked him out.
Considering how huge Benavidez is, he can’t be called a true super middleweight, as he drops from delicate heavyweight to 168 pounds, allowing him to compete with smaller fighters.
Benavidez: Up-to-date-day Chavez Jr.?
You could argue that Benavidez is a weight bully, and has been throughout his career. He is doing what Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. did earlier in his career, dropping massive amounts of weight to compete at 154 and 160 and winning fights against high-profile opponents.
Benavidez is this era’s version of Chavez Jr., with the way he retreats to take advantage of smaller opposition in a weight class he shouldn’t be fighting in because of his huge delicate heavyweight frame. What Benavidez is doing is the same thing Chavez Jr. did.
Younger fans who didn’t follow the sport years ago aren’t aware of Chavez Jr.’s success back then. They only know him for who he became later in his career when he couldn’t break down enough to compete at 154 and 160.
He was a completely different fighter in the early days, when he had a huge advantage over his junior middleweight and middleweight opponents. He did what Benavidez does now, fighting well below his weight class.
The Early Success and Fall of Chavez Jr.
Chavez Jr. found great success by gradually dropping down in weight to compete in those weight classes, defeating many top contenders and winning the middleweight world title in 2011. However, when he was no longer able to make 160 pounds, his career took a nosedive.
During Chavez Jr.’s heyday, from 2008 to 2014, he defeated the following quality fighters:
-Andy Lee -Brian Vera – Sebastian Żbik -Marco Antonio Rubio -John Duddy -Peter Manfredo Jr.
I believe the same thing will happen to David Benavidez when he is forced to fight at 175 permanently. We have already seen the problems Benavidez will have at delicate heavyweight in his debut against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
Benavidez had a challenging time getting the better of Gvozdyk, and the fight was much more evenly matched than the one-sided scores of the three judges. The fight showed that Benavidez is the next Chavez Jr., and his career will take a downward turn when he can no longer drop down to 168.
“I fought him a few years ago and he’s become a great fighter since then,” Shane Mosley Jr. said. Professional boxing fansspeaking of Canelo Alvarez. “He did it all. He had a legendary and probably one of the best careers in boxing.
“He’s fought everybody. He’s done everything he needs to do. He doesn’t necessarily have to fight a guy like David Benavidez. David Benavidez has to fight him. But obviously, as long as he’s in the game, everybody’s going to point to that name and point to that fight for him because they want to see the best fight the best.”
Canelo is not a delicate heavyweight and that is a problem he would have against Benavidez because the guy does not fit into the 168-pound weight class.
If there was a 10-pound rehydration clause, I don’t think he would have made weight for the second weigh-in. Benavidez could have gone down to 168, but he probably couldn’t have stopped rehydrating to 180 or 190. You don’t expect Canelo to fight someone that huge in a super middleweight fight. No one should.
“I think it’s a great fight. I’d like to see it happen. I don’t think it necessarily has to happen, but I’d like to see it happen,” Mosley Jr. said. “I think David Benavidez might be a little too adolescent, as far as I think he has the advantage of youth,” Mosley Jr. said of his belief that Benavidez would be too fresh for Canelo.
If Canelo fought at delicate heavyweight and rehydrated to 190, the Benavidez fight would be no problem, but that is not the case here. Benavidez should fight at his natural 175 weight class and focus on fighting killers like Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol instead of fighting at 168.
“He’s got a fresher body. They’re both explosive. They both throw good combinations. They’re both veterans, but because of the youth, I think Benavidez might be a little too adolescent and fresh for him,” Shane Jr. said.
Benavidez is fresh at 168, but at 175 he is an average fighter and I think he will have a problem when he is no longer able to maintain weight at 168. I think Benavidez will maintain weight at 168 as long as he can because he knows it is the end of the road when he is forced to fight at 175.
The World Boxing Council (WBC) ordered world cruiserweight champion Badou “The Ripper” Jack (20-1-1, 19 KO) to make a mandatory title defense against Ryan “The Bruiser” Rozicki (20-1), number 1 in the WBC ranking – 1, 19 KOs).
If both camps fail to successfully negotiate an agreement, the WBC will organize a tender on February 4, followed by the Jack vs. Rozicki. Rozicki’s promoter, Three Lions Promotions, immediately sent Team Jacek an offer to promote the fight in Canada last week.
“We are waiting for their counteroffer,” explained promoter Dan Otter of Three Lions Promotions. “Boxing has had a huge resurgence in Canada and Ryan is leading the way. He is one of the most electrifying and hardest-hitting fighters in boxing, definitely in the cruiserweight division. He wants the WBC green belt and ultimately the unification of the division. Ryan will fight Jack anywhere for the belt.”
29-year-old Rozicki, born in Sydney (Nova Scotia) and living in Hamilton (Ontario), fought 22 professional fights against 21 different opponents (twice against Yamil Alberto Peralta), stopping 19 of the 20 opponents he defeated. an eye-opening 95-KO percentage.
Jack, 41, was a 2008 Olympian representing his native Sweden. He is a three-division world champion, as well as the WBC super middleweight and World Boxing Association (WBA) lightweight heavyweight title holder. Jack has a record of 5-0-2 (2 KO) in world championship fights.
“We respect Jack and I don’t want to sound disrespectful,” Otter added, “but he’s over 40 years vintage and has been relatively inactive for two years (only one fight). He brings a lot of experience and respect to the ring, but he will fight a newborn defender with a lot of power. Jack is going to struggle and honestly, I don’t think he’ll make it past the first few rounds.”
Ryan Rozicki is on a mission to become the first Canadian cruiserweight world champion.
Floyd Mayweather’s incredible 50-0 record is not normal and cannot be repeated in sports for another seventy years.
This is the view of Saudi Arabian president Turki Alalshikh, who wants to adopt the UFC model in which fighters lose many fights during their career.
In a speech as he hosted the Ring Magazine Awards after acquiring the long-running boxing publication from Oscar De La Hoya, Alalshikh was unequivocal in his opinion.
“Now losing some fights in boxing must be normal,” he explained. “All fighters want a career similar to Floyd Mayweather – no losses. This may happen once every 50, 60 or 70 years.
“We need it [to be] like currently in the UFC model, where champions lose and win,” added the matchmaker during the Riyad season.
Mayweather rose through the sport in the tardy 1990s to become one of its youngest superstars. Mayweather’s professional success came after winning a bronze medal at the Olympics after losing to Serafim Todorov.
Winning world titles in five weight classes, Mayweather was untouchable. The Grand Rapids native only came close to defeat a few times. He dominated Manny Pacquiao and overtook Canelo Alvarez and Oscar De La Hoya after heated debates, with decisions that should have been made unanimously.
Towards the end of his career, Mayweather chose to face Andre Berto and Conor McGregor, easily winning and ending his boxing career at the age of 50 without ever going out. Calling himself “the greatest of all time,” Mayweather earned first-ballot Hall of Fame honors and is widely considered one of, if not the greatest defensive fighter of all time.
However, Alalshikh says this type of career needs to end so that fans can get the most out of boxing, as is the case with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Boxing needs to become more attractive, and Alalshikh sees the failures of top stars as a way to keep interest at an all-time high.
In this sport, many boxers enjoy undefeated streaks, the most notable of which is Oleksandr Usyk. The Ukrainian Pound for Pound King is 23-0 and has beaten the best he has to offer in his division and cruiserweight classification.
It remains a mystery how Alalshikh plans to make Usyk suffer while he dominates everyone else. By the time his grand plan goes into action, Usyk will be long gone, and Gervonta Davis, Shakur Stevenson and Devin Haney may be more realistic targets.
WBN understands that despite alternative options emerging, it is more likely that Manny Pacquiao will face Mario Barrios next.
Bob Santos, coach of WBC welterweight champion Barrios, told World Boxing News that he is currently in contact with Pacquiao’s team. Asked by WBN if he had spoken to Pacquiao or representatives of any other challenger, Santos replied: “Yes, Pacquiao’s promoter, Sean Gibbons.” Pressed on whether Barrios vs Pacquiao might happen next, he added: “It’s challenging to say. We’ll have to see how this plays out.”
WBN contacted Santos after Conor Benn emerged as a potential alternative to Barrios. The British fighter, who recently returned from a suspension following two positive drug tests, is keen to return to competition.
Benn showed favor with the World Boxing Council at the recent WBC Convention, the WBC Evaluation Committee and during an interview with the sanctioning body over the weekend. “The Destroyer” is ranked second in the rankings at 147 pounds, despite less than solid opponents during his time in exile, during which Benn competed twice in the United States while his career in the United Kingdom was in doubt.
As he battled to clear his name and with the British Anti-Doping Authority finding no evidence that Benn had intentionally taken ostarine, the 28-year-old’s career took a pointed nosedive. Despite this, he remains highly rated and at least one step away from fighting for an eliminator or one of the remaining championship titles.
However, Pacquiao remains Barrios’ favorite. Now it’s up to the boxing legend and Hall of Famer who got the first votes to secure his shot. WBN believes a July date – most likely at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas – is the most realistic date for a Nevada swan song.
Pacquiao could extend his record as the oldest welterweight champion by six years if he can secure a huge victory over the 29-year-old world champion. At 46 years antique, such a scenario remains unlikely, but he can never be compared to one of the greatest players of this generation.
Unlike heavier boxers and his training regiment, Pacquiao looks in great shape despite his advanced age. Everything is set for a massive return to the boxing capital of the world, provided Pacquiao and his team can manage his political ambitions, which are expected to run from this month until May. After that time, Pacquiao could find himself in the summer finals and become the all-time champion, regardless of the result.
Barrios is based in the city, where he trained with Santos, and would be the perfect opponent to see out the career of one of the greatest fighters in history.
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