Las Vegas, NV – The WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) proved to the world, he is an untamable monster. Demetrius Andrade had the gameplan but could not execute it. As expected, Andrade was competitive early in match. He challenged Benavidez in the first three rounds but in the fourth round Benavidez changed the momentum of the fight, sending Andrade to the canvas. After that Demetrius appeared to be in survival mode trying to survive by any means necessary.
Andrade’s corner had seen enough and decided to put a stop to the match in the 6th round, giving Benavidez a technical knockout victory. Andrade’s attempt at a three-division title was unsuccessful due to his inability to absorb the punishment. He looked bothered by Benavidez’s power and was unsuccessful in maintaining his tactical strategy. Final Compubox numbers reveal an effective and efficient attack by David, connecting on 35 percent of his total punches (117 of 336) with 39 percent of them being power punches (102 of 264).
Benavidez defeated a two-division champion with an Olympic pedigree, proving to the world he’s an elite boxer who is more than deserving of a shot at the undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs). At the end of the fight, Benavidez asked the crowd if they wanted to see a match between him and Canelo and the crowd let out a tremendous roar.
At the moment a Canelo-Benavidez match would be the biggest fight in boxing and would generate great PPV numbers. It’s rumored Canelo is set to take on Jaime Munguia (42-0, 33 KOs) for a potential matchup in May. Leaving any hopes of a Canelo- Benavidez match until September.
Benavidez appears to have improved significantly from his prior match with Caleb Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) where he appeared to struggle against lateral movement. Similar to that match, it was competitive early, but he was able to make the necessary adjustments and punish his opponent. Benavidez stated at the post fight press conference, he wanted to start slowly and knew that Andrade wanted to set him up for traps, the way to offset his rhythm was with a double jab right hand.
He’s a much better boxer than what people give him credit for and after this performance he’s places himself among the elite in the sport. The ultimate test if it comes to fruition would be a matchup with Canelo Alvarez but if it doesn’t materialize, Benavidez is prepared to move up in weight to 175 pounds and face WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs).
