Anthony Yarde says his power will put WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez “to sleep” if he lands cleanly in their headliner fight on November 22, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) is confident that he can hit ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs), because his style of fighting is to go to war with his opponents. That’s his trademark approach to fights from day one in his 12-year pro career.
Benavidez is banking on his ability to out-punch Yarde, wear him down, and score a knockout at some point. What happens if Yarde lands first? With Yarde’s power, if he lands flush early in the fight, fans will find out if Benavidez has the chin for the 175-lb division.
It’s not a good sign that Benvidez has been hurt in his two fights since moving up to light heavyweight in 2024. David Morrell staggered him in the second round, hurt him in the fourth, and dropped him in the eleventh in their fight on February 1, 2025.
Former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk took the air out of Benavidez in the 11th round after nailing him with a right-hand body shot in their fight on June 15, 2024.
A War Waiting to Ignite
“It’s inevitable. At some point, we’re going to have a shootout. That’s what I want and that’s what he wants,” said Anthony Yarde to Queensberry about how his fight with David Benavidez will play out on November 22nd. “I feel like that’s our fighting style. That’s what makes it an exciting fight.”
It’s going to be a “shootout” immediately in the Benavidez vs. Yarde fight in round one. That’s how Benavidez fights. He’s not going to wait until the mid-rounds or later in the fight to go on the attack against Yarde, because he’s a volume puncher who wins his fights by outworking his opponents.
The question is, can Anthony Yarde handle Benavidez’s pace for twelve rounds? We’ve seen Yarde’s gastank empty in the past in knockout losses to Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev when they set a fast pace. With Beavidez’s high-pressure style, it’s a given that Yarde is going to wear down rapidly if he can’t knock him out or make him think twice about using that approach.
Benavidez’s Chin Questioned
“I got my artillery. I got my vest and my Iron Man gear. We come to the middle of the ring. Hopefully, there are no strays. The referee needs to be careful. And you’ll have a good fight,” said Yarde.”If I hit Benavide and it’s clean, he’s going to sleep,” said Yarde.
Benavidez, 28, will insist on making it a war right off the bat against Yarde, believing he can snow him under with shots. We don’t know if his chin is still intact after what the Cuban Morrell did to him last February. Again, he was hurt twice by Morrell and dropped in the 11th round. That’s not a good way to go into the fight against a big puncher like Morrell.
Benavidez’s 175 Experiment
Is Benavidez’s power as real at light heavyweight as it was at 168? The fights that he’s had since moving up to 175 against Gvozdyk and Morrell suggest that his power didn’t carry up from 168. Both of Benavidez’s fights have gone the 12-round distance.
Is Yarde being overlooked—could this be 65/35 his way? He clearly is being overlooked, seen as the token victim for Benavidez to use in a showcase fight . People are overlooking Yarde and don’t see him as a credible threat. That’s why there’s less buzz about this fight compared to the co-feature bout between Devin Haney vs. Brian Norman Jr. for The Ring IV card on November 22nd.
