By Dan Ambrose: Trainer Stephen Edwards says Demetrius Andrade has the video of the success Caleb Plant had against David Benavidez to use as a type of blueprint/script to follow for their fight on November 25th.
Andrade might not need the script from the Plant fight because Benavidez looks scrawny and pale from his efforts to drain down to make the 168-lb limit.
The Mexican Monster is going through hell right now to get down in weight, as he really should be campaigning at 175 or cruiserweight. Benavidez does not look well right now, and it’s much worse by November 24th when he weighs in.
Dan Ambrose wouldn’t be surprised if Benavidez can’t make weight and loses his WBC interim super middleweight strap on the scale. Yeah, the fight with Andrade will still take place, but it’ll look bad because it would be further proof in the eyes of many fans that Benavidez is a weight bully.
Edwards states that Plant was getting the better of Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) through the first six rounds until he got hit with a body shot, resulting in fatigue setting in.
Plant became stationary at that point, and the younger, much larger 26-year-old Benavidez then took advantage of the tired fighter to pound out a twelve round decision.
It’s possible that Plant would have gassed out anyway, as he’d done that in his fights against Canelo Alvarez and Jose Uzcategui at the midpoint.
He would have likely faded even without Benavidez nailing him with a hard body shot, and he looked red-faced from the third round from the movement he was doing to avoid the ‘Mexican Monster.’
Andrade can study video on Benavidez
“Thirty-five is when you start to look for a decline in athletes in general, but I don’t know. I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s slipped, to be honest, but we haven’t seen home in against a certain level of guy,” said Stephen Edwards to Fighthype when asked if the 35-year-old former two-division world champion Demetrius Andrade is beginning to show signs of slippage at this late stage of his long fifteen-year pro career.
Andrade didn’t look so great in his debut at 168 against journeyman Demond Nicholson last January. Boo Boo Andrade’s power didn’t carry up to super middleweight, and he looked tired in the later rounds. Moreover, the shots from Nicholson seemed to bother Andrade, making him fight defensively.
What was really noticeable was the loss of speed of the 35-year-old Andrade. He looked slower at 168 than he’d been at 160 & 154.
“It’s not like he’s been getting dropped, earning split decisions, and scraping by guys he should beat. The results of his fights have always been the same results that he’s getting now,” said Edwards.
“If he don’t clip you early, he kind of cruises to decision. I haven’t seen evidence of him slipping. I think Andrade has a good shot of winning. I think he’s proven to be a winner,” said Stephen when asked if he thinks Demetrius can defeat Benavidez.
“He has a very high amateur pedigree, something that David doesn’t have, which does count as far as being able to score points. He has an awkward style, and David is a slow starter. Andrade is a fast starter.
“So Andrade could conceivably get out to a good lead before David starts to come on, and consistency at this level is a true marker for greatness. We have to see how David is going to perform after some video has been out of him getting outboxed in the first half of the fight against Caleb Plant.
“What happens with all fighters is that people study your flaws and weak points. So now they’ve seen, ‘Okay, you can do this to David. Okay, great fighter, but he does have some flaws. What Andrade and his team can do is put together something and mimic some of the things that Caleb was able to do with him.
“Honestly, the first six rounds were scripted. We didn’t have trouble until Caleb got hit with a big body shot, and the fatigue set in. But the first six rounds was scripted, just like we wanted them,” said Edwards.
Benavidez vs. Andrade = potential fight of the year?
“It [David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade] could be one of the most exciting fights of the year because Canelo didn’t look that impressive with [Jermell Charlo]. So we can make this fight the best fight of the year,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. to ESNEWS, talking about undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s recent title defense against Jermell Charlo not being that great performance.
Benavidez-Andrade could be a ‘Fight of the Year’ type of contest, but that’ll depend on if Andrade chooses to mix it up with the much larger and younger Benavidez.
If Demetrius follows the Caleb Plant blueprint/script like many believe he’ll do, this fight won’t be nearly as entertaining as some think.
“I was thinking in my mind that [Jermell] Charlo was 154, and he came up to 168,” said Benavidez Sr. “I was thinking, ‘Man, this guy is going to get knocked out. Canelo is a big 168 now.’ My respect to Charlo. He survived in there, took all his shots, and he lost, but he showed a lot of poise and guts.
“He didn’t get hurt. It was a boring fight, in my opinion. There was no nothing, no excitement, but I got to give it to Charlo. The little guy went up two divisions to fight one of the best fighters in the world, and that guy couldn’t take him out,” said Jose Sr.
Why wouldn’t anyone think that Jermell wouldn’t be able to go the distance with Canelo? This isn’t the same fighter he was back in 2021 and earlier.
In Canelo’s three fights leading up to his match with Jermell, he’d looked terrible against John Ryder, Gennadiy Golovkin, and Dmitry Bivol. Going off those performances, it was only obvious that Jermell would go the distance with the Mexican star.
“We’re right on point,” said Jose Sr. about David Benavidez getting ready for his clash against Demetrius Andrade on November 25th. “He’s looking good and going eleven rounds, I’m super excited.
“A lot of people want attention, and I respect that,” said Jose Sr. about boxing fans on social media saying that Benavidez looks huge right now. “We got to do our job, come on weight. He’s more dedicated, more focused, and whatever people say. I can’t make everybody happy,” said Jose Sr.
Big risk for Benavidez
“I appreciate people tuning in, and like ‘Boo Boo’ says, ‘Buy pay-per-views,'” said Jose Sr.
“It’s a big guy, a good champion, and a dangerous fighter,” said Jose Sr. about his son, 31-year-old Jose Benavidez Jr., a career welterweight, moving up to middleweight to take on WBC 160-lb champion Jermall Charlo in a non-title bout in the co-feature on the November 25th Benavidez vs. Andrade card.
Benavidez Sr. shouldn’t get his hopes up too much about his son, Jose Jr., pulling off the upset against the unbeaten Jermall because this is a size, power & skills mismatch on paper.
The only thing that Jose Jr. has going for him is the long period of inactivity that Jermall has had, but that’s probably not going to be nearly enough for him to pull off the upset.
Even Jermall fighting at 60% capacity will likely be too much for Benavidez Jr., who was never one of the top-rung welterweights, even in his prime before he got shot in the leg in 2016.
“The sky is the limit. It’s a big risk for us to take, but what do we do? We want to be remembered for fighting anybody, anywhere, any place, and Junior is a warrior and a monster also,” said Benavidez Sr. ”
“We don’t run from anybody; we give the people the fight they want to see,” said Jose Sr., who is failing to point out that the boxing public isn’t asking for Jermall Charlo to fight Jose Benavidez Jr. That’s NOT a fight fans want to see.
People don’t want to see Jermall Charlo waste a fight against a middle-of-the-road welterweight, who was recently beaten by past his best Danny Garcia. Jose Jr. should be fighting guys like at 147 and being a trial horse for fighters like Conor Benn to practice on.
Since Jermall plans to fight at 168, he should be facing Diego Pacheco, Jaime Munguia, or Edgar Berlanga. Those are good mid-tier contenders and very, very beatable.
“Even being here is a dream come true. I would have never imagined,” said Jose Sr. about him and his sons, Benavidez and Jose Jr., fighting on Showtime PPV. “For somebody that didn’t know anything about boxing being here. It’s his [David Benavidez] second pay-per-view fight. It’s unbelievable.
“We got to thank God, Al Haymon, and everybody that has been supporting. We just got to maintain and keep working hard, not lose ground and focus,” said Jose Sr.
