By Mike Smith: Negotiations are underway for WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell to defend his belt against former WBC 168 lb champion David Benavidez next. This would be a fight that will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions likely on Fox.
It’s surprising that Dirrell (33-1-1, 24 KOs) is interested in taking on the 22-year-old Benavidez (21-0, 18 KO). After Dirrell’s recent 10 round technical decision win over Avni Yildirim on February 23, he made it clear that he wants to be involved in big money fights. Dirrell might not ever get a chance to make those high revenue fights if he faces Benavidez and loses to him, which is very possible.
Benavidez recently returned from a 13 month last off last Saturday night on March 16 to stop J’Leon Love (24-4-1, 13 KOs) in the second round in their co-feature bout on the Errol Spence Jr. vs. Mikey Garcia card on Fox Sports pay-per-view at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The fight wasn’t competitive unfortunately. Love looked like he didn’t belong inside the ring with the 6’2″ Benavidez, and he was quickly taken out.
Dirrell was a good fighter six years ago, but he’s not been impressive lately in his wins over Denis Douglin and Avni Yildirim. Although Dirrell won both fights, he looked beatable, and not like the fighter he was back in 2012. The way Dirrell looked in his last fight with Yildirim, he won’t do well against Benavidez. Never the less, the flat-footed Dirrell packs a punch, is highly accurate, and he’s explosive in short bursts. If Dirrell can unload with his punching arsenal early on Benavidez with a flurry of shots, he could knock him out quickly like he did in stopping Caleb Truax in the first round in April 2016. No one has ever knocked out Truax the way that Dirrell did. It took Danny Jacobs 12 rounds to stop Truax in the 12th round in 2015.
Dirrell’s best chance of beating Benavidez is to go after him in the first round before he’s had a chance to start landing his big shots. If the fight goes longer than the first, Benavidez will start walking Dirrell down and battering him the way that Badou Jack did in beating him by a 12 round majority decision in 2015. Dirrell couldn’t handle the pressure and the body punching from Jack. Beanvidez is more of a head hunter than a body puncher, but he’s a going to press Dirrell in the same way that Jack did. That’s how Benavidez fights. Benavidez has excellent boxing skills as well, but he prefers to walk down his opponents and score highlight reel knockouts.