By Chris Williams: David Benavidez has revealed the straight that he would employ to beat Terence Crawford if he were the one facing him next Saturday night on November 20th instead of Shawn Porter.
Benavidez says he would pressure Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) nonstop and target his body to wear him down.
We saw Benavidez show the style that he would use to beat Crawford last Saturday night when he wore down the counter-punching Kyrone Davis (16-3-1, 6 KOs) with pressure & body shots in their fight on SHOWTIME at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Like Canelo Alvarez, Crawford is good at moving his head to avoid headshots, but he’s less effective at getting out of the way of punches aimed towards his body.
Fortunately for the 34-year-old Crawford, he hasn’t fought too many body punchers during his career, so he’s had it easy.
Crawford will be defending his WBO welterweight title against mandatory challenger Porter (31-3-1, 17 KOs) on ESPN+ PPV at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
Oddly enough, this isn’t a fight that Crawford wanted. Despite years of complaining about not getting the top guys to fight him when one finally showed interest, Crawford didn’t want the fight. Is it because Crawford knows Porter presents a lousy style match-up for him or what?
Porter can’t let Crawford box says, Benavidez
“I think Crawford is going to get him. It’s not going to be an easy fight because Porter is a tough, rugged fighter, but I think Crawford uses the ring really good, and his IQ is really good,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype in predicting next Saturday’s fight between Crawford and Porter.
“We’ll see what happens. You can’t count Porter out because when you count him out, he does better than you expect, like you see with Keith Thurman, Errol Spence, and Ugas. So it’s definitely going to be a good fight, but I’ve got Crawford.
“He’s just got to be himself times ten. He can’t let Crawford box at all, and he’s got to back him into the ring. Like I said, he’s got a good chance he wins. You see Mean Machine, and he was using that [pressure], and he kind of rocked Crawford.
“It’s going to be a good fight. Both of those fighters [Crawford and Porter] are solidified fighters and great world champions. It’s going to be a banger.
“The sparring was different, but that’s what I knew about him. His pressure was crazy, and I’m a way bigger fighter,” said Benavidez about the sparring he did with Porter in the past,” Benavidez said.
If Porter doesn’t let Crawford box, he’s got a good chance of winning the fight because it means he’ll be brawling with him in close.
We know Crawford is quite good when he’s fighting at medium to long-range, but he’s never shown the ability to fight on the inside. By Porter forcing the fight to the inside, he’ll take away Crawford’s counter punching and switch-hitting.
It won’t be as crucial for Crawford to use those gimmicks, and his southpaw stance will be meaningless.
The commentators from ESPN won’t be able to fawn about how great it is to see Crawford changing stances, even though he’s most effective from the orthodox stance.
All the switching Crawford does is just junk and wasted movement, but it impresses the commentators, who waste time babbling about it.
Benavidez reveals how he would fight Crawford
“How he would hurt somebody else, he wouldn’t hurt me because I obviously outweigh him by 50 lbs, but he does have really good pressure, and his pressure could help him [against Crawford],” said Benavidez.
“A lot of pressure and a lot of body shots,” said Benavidez on how he would defeat a counter puncher like Terence Crawford. “A lot of catch and shoot. Sometimes you throw stuff to make him throw something to counter, and then you counter the counter.
“It’s harder than it sounds. You’ve really got to be on point with everything. But I think the pressure and the body shots,” Benavidez said in how to get the better of a fighter like Crawford.
Pressure and body punching would be a nightmare for Crawford because he’s faced nothing but headhunters and guys that never put him under constant pressure.