David Benavidez predicts that his brother Jose Benavidez Jr. will “knock out’ Jermall Charlo on November 25th in their co-feature bout on his card for the title defense of his WBC interim super middleweight belt against Demetrius Andrade on Showtime PPV.
It would be a massive upset if Benavidez Jr., who hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was since being shot in the leg in 2016, defeats the undefeated WBC middleweight champion Charlo in their ten round non-title fight.
You can’t rule out an upset, though, as Jermall has been inactive for two & half years, and he hasn’t looked particularly sharp working out with his coach Ronnie Shields.
The combination of Charlo’s inactivity, enjoying the fruits of his labor a little too much, increasing age, and the slippage that fans witnessed in his last fight against Juan Macias Montiel in June 2021 gives Benavidez Jr. a reasonable chance of winning.
Jermall’s size, power, and natural superior talent give him the advantage over the former welterweight contender Benavidez Jr. Charlo was a great talent when his career was firing on all eight cylinders.
What’s strange about this fight card is the 31-year-old Benavidez Jr. (28-2-1, 19 KOs) has a better opponent on paper, facing the unbeaten Jermall (32-0, 22 KOs) than his more accomplished & more popular brother, ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) in his headliner slot against 35-year-old Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs).
Benavidez Jr. lost to a faded version of Danny Garcia last year by a twelve round majority decision in June 2022. In 2018, Jose Jr. was stopped in the twelfth round by Terence Crawford in a fight that was competitive.
Last August, Benavidez Jr. got a confidence booster fifth round knockout over journeyman Sladan Janjanin.
Brian Campbell: “On November 25th, in the co-main event, we’ll get Jermall Charlo back after a long hiatus, but back against your brother Jose Benavidez Jr, who is always down to get down with anyone,” said Campbell on his YouTube channel.
“This is a really interesting fight. How do you see this? You see this from the standpoint of your brother, so I get that, but this is a tough match-up for your brother. We also have a lot of questions about Charlo. What are you expecting to learn from this fight?
David Benavidez: “I feel like this is a big opportunity for my brother. He has to take advantage of this. He’s been working extremely hard. I’ve been sparring with him myself. So I’m very confident that he’s going to go in there and knock Charlo out.
“A lot of people have been calling me crazy, but I think it’s going to be one of the biggest upsets in the past couple of years. I think he’s going to go in there and lay Charlo out, but it’s going to be a tough fight. Charlo, he probably should have taken another tune-up fight because he’s been out for so long, but whatever.
“My brother is going to cash in on this opportunity. It’s going to be a great fight. I joke with my brother. ‘We should just trade fighters. Let me fight Charlo, and you fight Demetrius,’ because I want to get that fight too, and I’m very excited for November 25th.”
If Benavidez Jr. defeats Jermall, it could open the doors for him to get some bigger fights, but more likely, the best he could hope for is a rematch. Canelo Alvarez isn’t going to bother fighting Benavidez Jr, and it’s questionable whether Caleb Plant would be interested in facing him.
Benavidez Jr. is too small to fight 160 & 168-pounders, and there are not a lot of big names in those divisions once you get past Canelo, Plant & Jermall. If Benavidez Jr. beats Jermall, a rematch would be the best bet. If Jose Jr. returns to 154, he could target WBO champion Tim Tszyu for a payday, but that would be a tough fight for him.
