By Sean Jones: David Benavidez wants to become a pay-per-view star as soon as possible, and he realizes that he’s got to be dominant in his title defense of his WBC interim super middleweight title against Demetrius Andrade on November 25th on Showtime PPV.
It may prove difficult for Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) because achieve pay-per-view stardom if he struggles to defeat the 35-year-old former two-division world champion Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs) or if he loses to him, which is entirely possible.
Fans see the Benavidez-Andrade contest as a 50-50, and no one would be surprised if Benavidez loses. It’s one of those fights where the slick southpaw Andrade could win if he can stay on the move and avoid staying stationary like most of Benavidez’s opponents.
Known for his high punch output, Benavidez made light of undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, throwing just 350 punches in his last fight against Jermell Charlo.
Benavidez can throw 1000 shots in a 12 round fight if he has an opponent that stands in front of him, but that’s probably not going to happen on November 25th in their headliner at the Michelob Ultra Center in Las Vegas.
Andrade is well-schooled and not foolish enough to be a sitting duck in front of the gargantuan-sized Benavidez.
The only way that Demetrius will stand still for any length of time is if he fades from the pressure being put on him by Benavidez, and obviously, that’s going to be the game plan for the ‘Mexican Monster.’
Why is Benavidez so needy?
“Well, to get to that road and to be that pay-per-view star, I have to do exactly what I’m doing. Keep facing the best fighters in the division,” said David Benavidez to Fight Hub TV.
For Benavidez to become a bonafide PPV attraction, he’s going to need to defeat Andrade, as well as these fighters:
- Canelo Alvarez
- David Morrell Jr.
- Dmitry Bivol
- Diego Pacheco
The fact that Benavidez has shown no desire to fight Morrell Jr means that he’s going to have a tough time trying to leap PPV because Canelo isn’t going to do him any favors, knowing that he’d be fighting a guy who should be campaigning at 175 instead of fighting at 168.
“I don’t want to be that fighter just waiting for Canelo,” said Benavidez. “I want to make my lane. I’m going to be the best of this generation by the time I’m done, so that means beating everybody good, everybody that’s ranked at the top of this weight division.”
It sounds good what Benavidez says about him not wanting to be just another needy, desperate fighter waiting for a handout from Canelo, but the fact is, he’s practically been begging Alvarez for a fight for years.
It’s already forlorn to the point where Canelo is totally turned off towards fighting Benavidez because he can’t have a conversation without bringing him up.
What if Canelo fight doesn’t happen?
“I’m very prepared, I’m very focused, and I’m willing, and I’m embracing any challenge that comes my way,” said Benavidez. “No, the journey doesn’t end until I retire. I feel like I don’t even want to think of like, ‘Oh, I’m almost close to getting that,’ because then that’s when the brain turns off. I really want to be the best, and I want to beat everybody.”
Obviously, Benavidez is being disingenuous when he says he embraces “any challenge” because he recently chose not to fight WBA 168-lb champion David Morrell Jr. when he called him out, and many saw that as a case of him being too chicken to face the talented Cuban.
“I really want to be dominant, and I am going to do that, but even after the Canelo fight, what’s after that?” said Benavidez. “I got to maintain my dominance, and I want to be the best; like I said, I want to be the best of my generation, and I keep myself focused, keep myself training hard, and motivated.”
Benavidez shouldn’t go assuming anything about Canelo because it’s not certain that fight will ever happen, especially if he loses to Andrade or to Morrell Jr. if he ever agrees to that match.
Instead of Benavidez counting his chickens before they hatched, he needs to focus on what’s in front of him because there’s no guarantee he’ll get past Andrade, and certainly none that he’ll ever get the chance to face Canelo.
“No specifics in the contract. Sometimes, when these fights take a while, it’s not in my hands. I would like to fight five times a year, but sometimes a promotional company does what they got to do, and they got their dates, they got the venues, and stuff like that,” said Benavidez.
“So I really have no control of that, but the thing I do have control of is that I was working the whole time. I’ve been training this whole time. I only took two weeks off my last fight. I’ve been training for months. I love this. I’ve been getting better and better at it,” said Benavidez.
