David Benavidez 2.8 pounds overweight, loses WBC title for Roamer Angulo fight

By Boxing News - 08/14/2020 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: David Benavidez surprisingly came weight in 2.8 pounds over the weigh-in limit at 170.8 lbs and has lost his WBC super-middleweight belt on the scales for his clash against Roamer Alexis Angulo on Saturday night at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.

For his part, Angulo successfully weighed in at 167.5 lb. The World Boxing 168-lb title will be available for the 36-year-old Colombian Angulo to fight for on Saturday night, but not for Benavidez.

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Benavidez vs. Angulo will be shown on Showtime at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.

Benavidez, 23, missing weight is bad news for him, as he was calling out Canelo Alvarez, Billy Joe Saunders, and Caleb Plant this week. With Benavidez missing weight by such a large margin, he’s going to need to seriously consider moving up to 175.

Is Benavidez a weight bully?

The two-time super middleweight Benavidez said he didn’t want to move up to light heavyweight before he was done cleaning out the 168-lb division, but it’s pretty clear that he’s going to need to move up.

Benavidez has always been huge for the super middleweight division, and it’s a wonder that he’ been able to make weight all this time since turning pro in 2013. Now it looks like he’ll need to move up unless he wants to continue to struggle to try to make weight in a division that he’s too big for.

It’s possible that the WBC will order Angulo and Callum Smith to fight for the WBC title. If Angulo loses on Saturday, he’ll be a poor option to be fighting Callum for the vacant WBC 168lb title. Callum already holds the WBA Super World super middleweight title.

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Benavidez recently recaptured his WBC super-middleweight title last September in beating Anthony Dirrell by a 9th round KO at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. He had previously lost the title after testing positive for a banned substance.

Despite Benavidez having grown out of the 168lb division, it’s likely that he’ll continue to try and make weight to stay. The reason for that is simple. Canelo Alvarez fights at super middleweight, and if Benavidez can get a fight against him, he’ll make a lot of money.

It’s time El Bandera Roja move up to 175

Additionally, there’s a lot of money for Benavidez to make fighting the British fighters Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders at 168, and he would have an excellent chance of defeating them.

If Benavidez moves up to 175, he would have a very difficult time trying to beat IBF/WBC champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA champion Dmitry Bivol. The odds of Benavidez beating either o those fighters are quite low.

As such, you can expect Benavidez to do whatever he can to try and make weight t stay at 168, even if it leaves him drained and too weak to fight. Even at 50% capacity, Benavidez would stand a better chance of beating Saunder, Callum, and Canelo than he would against light heavyweights Beterbiev and Bivol.

You’d like to see Benavidez test himself against guys his own size in the light heavyweight division, but he gets hit too much to be fighting the likes of Beterbiev.

The way that Benavidez struggled again a shot Anthony Dirrell and Ronald Gavril suggests that he would be food for Beterbiev and Bivol.