David Benavidez got all worked up today during an interview when told that Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) said he has the better ‘one-punch power.’ The comment from Yarde is viewed as accurate by fans, as Benavidez is a volume guy who wins by burying his opponents with his output.
Benavidez didn’t like hearing from Yarde that his power is superior, but that comment reflects the general belief. Is Yarde simply telling the truth that Benavidez stubbornly refuses to face? His punch died at the border between 168 and 175. ‘The Mexican Monster’ has not come close to knocking out either of the two fighters he’s faced since moving up to light heavyweight, and he’s taken a boatload of punishment in those two fights alone.
The Morrell Blueprint
We saw in Benavidez’s last fight against David Morrell that his power wasn’t on the same level as the Cuban’s. At the end of the contest, Benavidez’s face looked beaten beyond recognition. In contrast, Morrell wasn’t marked. It’s a signal that his power didn’t carry up from the super middleweight division. Benavidez was hurt twice by Morrell and dropped in the 11th round.
The style of fighting that ‘The Mexican Monster’ uses, in which he sets up shop, standing at close range, firing rapid-fire combinations, puts him at risk of getting nailed by the more powerful 175-pounders. What Morrell did to Benavidez could be just a taste of what Yarde will do on Saturday night if nothing changes with his primitive fighting style. That approach would work if Benavidez possessed true light heavyweight power, but he doesn’t.
Benavidez has benefited from being significantly larger than his opponents at 168 and 175, which is why he has often been labeled a ‘weight bully’ by hardcore fans.
“I’m going in there to take care of business first, and whatever big fight we can make after that, I’m 100% willing to make whatever fight happen,” said David Benavidez to MillCity Boxing, about his focus if he comes out victorious in his title defense against Anthony Yarde this Saturday night in Riyadh.
‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) states that he’s going to knock Yarde out when he defends his WBC light heavyweight title against him this Saturday, November 22nd, at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It’s a fight where there’s a possibility that Benavidez could lose because he has not produced any knockouts since moving up to the 175-lb division. Moreover, he’s been hurt in both of his fights in the division against Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
“A lot of people say they can land on me and knock me out. But I think they have to worry about themselves first,” said Benavidez. “They have to worry about covering every side of themselves because I can go to the body. I can go to the head. There’s a lot of stuff I can do. Anthony Yarde has been stopped twice. So, he should worry about not being stopped a third time.”
Benavidez in Denial Mode
The look on Benavidez’s face when he was talking was that of an angry person. He looked like he was starting to boil over from just that simple comment from Yarde about him being blessed with superior power. I’m not sure why Benavidez would get so enraged about that. It suggests that he has a warped view of his power and believes that he’s something that he’s not. Why did a harmless comment about power send the “Mexican Monster” into meltdown mode? Is it insecurity, or is he starting to suspect the reality of his limitations? For Benavidez to snap at such a simple comment suggests that he knows he doesn’t possess power, and it makes him furious that his opponent, Yarde, has noticed it.
Yarde is actually doing Benavidez a favor by letting him know that he possesses better power than him, because it’ll give him a chance to adjust his game before Saturday night. The last thing Benavidez needs to do is fight like a primitive Neanderthal from 400,000 years ago against a fighter with Yarde’s punching power and get his cleaned out. That’s how Benavidez has been fighting throughout his career. The only reason he’s gotten by is his size advantage, as he appears to be a cruiserweight after rehydrating for fights at 168 and 175.
“I’m prepared for anything he throws my way,” said Benavidez about Yarde. “I’m not thinking about whether he can hurt me. I’m going in there and I’m trying to stop his a**, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
