Jose Benavidez Jr. is getting ahead of himself, telling the media that he wants a rematch with Terence Crawford next after his fight this Saturday night against unbeaten middleweight Jermall Charlo at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Crawford would have to be completely desperate for an opponent for him to throw a bone to Benavidez Jr, especially after he’s crushed by Jermall on Saturday. Terence would be better off fighting Jermall than facing his victim, but you never know.
Maybe Crawford will be sentimental and give the needy Benavidez Jr. a pick-me-up to keep his career afloat in his time of need.
Five years ago, Crawford knocked out Benavidez Jr. in the twelfth round in October 2018 in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of the stoppage, Crawford was way ahead, having won every round on one judge’s scorecard. It wasn’t close.
The idea of Crawford giving Benavidez Jr. a needless rematch is hard to imagine, as there would be no interest from the boxing world in watching Terence knock him out again, and it’s not like Jose Jr. has beaten anyone good enough to deserve a second fight.
Benavidez Jr’s wins have come against second-tier fodder-level opposition in the last five years. For example, Benavidez Jr’s recent opponent’s record was 36-18, which shows you the level he’s been operating at.
The likely only reason Benavidez Jr. got the fight with Jermall is his brother, David, pulling strings for him. Otherwise, he’d still be operating at the lowest level, battling scrubs.
Benavidez Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs) is assuming he’s going to beat Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs), which few fans believe he’s capable of doing in their ten round co-feature bout on the David Benavidez vs. Demetrius Andrade card on Showtime PPV.
Benavidez Jr. bragging about sparring video
“Why are you asking me that? Crawford is a beast,” said Jose Benavidez Jr. to the media when asked who the better fight was between Jermall Charlo and Terence Crawford.
“Not Crawford, with Spence,” said Benavidez Jr. about him supposedly having a video of a sparring session where he knocked down Errol Spence. “That’s 100% facts and I got that video. I’m saying it, and what I speak is the truth, and I got that video to back it up.”
It’s forlorn how Benavidez Jr. is using his sparring stories with Errol Spence Jr. to embellish his credentials as a fighter. Benavidez Jr. sounds like he’s using his sparring story as a substitute for actual wins over quality opposition and accomplishments. There are no words.
“Tell him to put it up, and I’ll put the video of me dropping him,” said Benavidez Jr. when told that Spence says that he has a video of him messing him up in sparring.
The video snippet that Benavidez claims to have of him dropping Spence was likely a flash knockdown. He didn’t say when the sparring took place, as that would be an important tidbit to let the media in on.
If it was the drained, car crash-wrecked version of Spence that we saw getting batted around the ring by Crawford last summer in July, you can’t give Benavidez Jr. any credit for that.
The way Spence looked in that fight, he would have gotten the stuffing beaten out of him by even lightweights like Gervonta Davis. Spence just looked 100% gone, physically & mentally.
You could give Benavidez Jr. credit for a sparring story if he said he’d dominated and dropped one of these fighters: David Morrell, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, or Janibek Alimkhanuly. But using Spence as a way of raising your credibility will not work unless fans are clueless and haven’t been following the sport enough to see how wrecked & drained Errol looked in his last fight.
“They want to lower him. He fought everyone and beat everyone,” said Benavidez Jr. “I’ll fight whoever and whenever. I’ve always said that in all my interviews. I’m a warrior, and that’s what I do,” said Benavidez Jr. on who he wants to face next after Jermall Charlo.
“I fight anyone, I’m not scared of anyone. I just don’t have that in my DNA. I’m not scared of anyone. I’ll fight anyone. It doesn’t matter the height, doesn’t matter the weight. I’m here to fight.
“Like I said, I’ll fight whoever, whenever it doesn’t matter,” said Benavidez Jr. on whether he would be interested in fighting Spence on PPV.
If Benavidez Jr. isn’t scared of anyone, why doesn’t he volunteer to walk the plank against Morrell or Boots Ennis? Those guys might entertain the idea of using him as a stay-busy opponent, but probably not if he gets obliterated by Jermall on Saturday night.
If Benavidez Jr. gets blown out of the water, even his popular brother won’t be able to help him get fights against notable opposition. He’d have to return to fighting the likes of Sladan Janjanin, Franciso Emanuel Torres, Frank Rojas, and Matthew Strode.
Jose Jr. wants Crawford rematch to avenge his KO loss
“So everyone was funny. Look, everyone was saying to Crawford, ‘You beat Benavidez with one leg. You fought him with one leg, and you barely beat him.’ [Shawn] Porter said that he got his a** whooped. Errol Spence was talking down on me, and he got stopped early,” said Benavidez Jr.
“Yeah, I got stopped [by Crawford], but I put a hell of a fight on. So, all those people that are talking and saying that I’m no good, it just comes to show that Terence Crawford is the best of the best and is taking everyone out,” said Benavidez Jr.
Did Crawford carry Benavidez Jr?
The fight that Chris Williams saw between Crawford & Benavidez Jr. wasn’t competitive in the slightest. Crawford was toying with him, playing around, hitting him at all, dancing around, making him look silly.
It looked like Crawford intentionally carried Benavdiez Jr. as long as possible to make him suffer more for all the trash-talking he’d done in the build-up to their fight in October 2018.
When Crawford suddenly turned on the gas in the twelfth round, he was nailing him with shots; he had Benavidez Jr. look so confused that he didn’t know if he was coming or going. The referee had no choice but to save Benavidez.
The thing is, Crawford could have done that in the first round, but he clearly held off, wanting to give him Omaha, Nebraska fans a show by slowly roasting Benavidez Jr. for as long as possible.
“I’m the only one that has given him a run for his money, and I would love a rematch at a heavier weight, but that probably won’t happen,” said Benavidez Jr. about his waning a second fight with Terence Crawford.
Benavidez Jr. sounds deluded, like he’s trying to put a positive spin on what was a one-sided loss to Crawford. He did NOT give Crawford a “run for his money” at any time in their fight in 2018, and it’s strange that he’s trying to use his making it to the twelfth as a moral victory.
“Like I said, all that beef that we had, we quashed it. He’s a good guy, and I wish him the best in his career. That’s kind of f*** up how they [the IBF] took the belt away from too,” said Benavidez Jr, talking about how the International Boxing Federation stripped Crawford and elevated interim champ Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis when it became clear that he was going to face Spence in an immediate rematch rather than defend against the IBF mandatory, which was due.
