By Dan Ambrose: David Benevidez (24-0, 21 KOs) put on a power punching display in giving a one-sided thrashing to the brave Ronald Ellis (18-2-2, 12 KOs) in stopping him in the 11th round on Saturday night in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.
Benavidez, 24, was giving a one-sided beating to Ellis through the first 10 rounds of the contest. In the 11th, the referee Johny Callas finally stepped in and halted the fight due. The time of the stoppage was at 2:03 of the 11th.
Ellis, 31, was competitive in the first several rounds, but it quickly got out of hand with Benavidez dishing out heavy punishment.
The way Benavidez slowly bludgeoned Ellis throughout the contest may give Canelo Alvarez confidence that he could beat him. But the pace that Benavidez set tonight would be a real problem for Canelo.
The size, power, and high work rate from Benavidez will be a nightmare for Canelo, who has it easy lately with the opposition that little more than punching bags for him. Benavidez a whole different story.
Many boxing fans on social media felt that Canelo would pick Benavidez apart with his counter-punching, faster hands, and pinpoint power shots.
Perhaps the only way Benavidez would beat Canelo would be to take his counter shots, and outwork him. If Benavidez could handle Canelo’s power, he could definitely overwhelm him with shots and force him to defend or use his legs to escape the attacks.
We saw Canelo use movement against Gennady Golovkin in the first fight between them, but it’s unclear whether he could get away from Benavidez.
Ellis was covering up most of the fight to try to block the high volume of heavy shots coming from Benavidez during the contest. It would have been interesting if Ellis had tried to counter Benavidez because he was there to be hit.
Defensively, Benavidez was wide open, standing straight up without the typical boxing crouch that you see from fighters, and getting hit cleanly when Ellis did fire off shots.
With the win by Benavidez tonight, he’s now Canelo’s WBC mandatory. It’ll be interesting to see if Canelo chooses to fight him in 2022 after he finishes unifying the super middleweight division.
Canelo has the Franchise tag that he can lean on if he wants to circumvent his requirement of needing to face Benavidez. You can’t put it past Canelo to duck the fight with Benavidez to avoid a very difficult fight and a potential loss.
In boxing results on the card, Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (21-1-1, 15 KOs) defeated Matias Romero (24-1, 8 KOs) by a 12 unanimous decision in a WBA lightweight title eliminator.
The scores were 114-113, 115-112, 118-109 win. Boxing News 24 gave it to Cruz by a 115-112 score. In the sixth, Cruz lost a point for a low blow.
Junior middleweight contender Terrell Gausha (22-2-1, 11 KOs) beat Jamontay Clark (15-2-1, 7 KOs) by a surprising second round knockout. Gausha landed a big right hand that put Clark down in the second round.
After Clark got back up, Guasha finished him off with a flurry of shots. The time of the stoppage was 2:44.