David Benavidez claims “the weight cut was easy” for him, cutting down to 175 for his fight against Anthony Yarde tonight in Riyadh. ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) has looked drained all week, showing that making weight was anything but “easy” for him.
Yarde Shows Up Shredded
For the record, Benavidez weighed in at 174.3 lbs on Friday for his defense of his WBC light heavyweight title tonight against Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yarde weighed in at 173.9 lbs and looked buffed, showing no signs of being drained. Indeed, appeared ready to step inside the ring at the weigh-in.
Benavidez states that the weight cut was so easy, he believes he’ll have “extra energy” tonight. We’ll see about that, since he didn’t look like a fighter who would be at full strength after cutting weight. Chris Williams smells upset.
Yarde’s Third Time Charm?
“Taking on the victory, and I want to do it in an explosive way, an exciting way, and it’s going to be historic because it’s him,” said Anthony Yarde to DAZN Boxing about his fight tonight against David Benavidez.
Yarde looked better than he did in his two previous attempts at capturing a world title in his fights against Artur Beterbiev and Sergey Kovalev. He may finally have luck on his side tonight.
“There’s a lot of talent on this card, but I’m going to go in there and steal the show by having the best fight of the night,” said Benavidez. “David Benavidez is going to have the best performance of the night, and I’m going to walk out of there with both of my titles still on my arm.”
It’s going to take a lot for Benavidez to outdo the undercard fighters in tonight’s career. There are some excellent talents on the card that are good enough to be the headliner.
In Benavidez’s two fights since moving up to 175 in 2024, he has not looked impressive against David Morrell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He gassed out late in both fights, showed little power, and was hurt. If he performs like that tonight, he won’t “steal the show” from anybody.
Benavidez’s “Easy Cut”
“There was no strategy behind that. The weight cut was easy. I feel good. I preserved a lot of energy. I really didn’t have to do too much to cut the weight to 175. So, I feel good. I can use the extra energy into the fight,” said Benavidez.
If Benavidez loses or looks bad in winning, he needs to consider moving up to cruiserweight to make it easier for him to make weight. He looked like a zombie all week, and he can’t afford that in this division, loaded with big punchers.