Benavidez is showing signs of wear

David Benavidez turns 28 today, December 17, as he prepares to face WBA light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1 in Las Vegas. “The Mexican Monster” Benavidez won the WBC light heavyweight title in his last fight in a lackluster performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) had to fight hard to win a 12-round unanimous decision against Gvozdyk. In an interview, Benavidez said he went into the fight with both hands with a fresh cut. He feels those injuries kept him from being 100%. This is what I was afraid of. Benavidez was beginning to unravel from a long career in the sport.

Benavidez injury problems

He’s 28, but he might as well be 38. Benavidez has been a longtime professional like undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, and he also suffers from recurring injuries. Being in the game for more than 10 years takes its toll on a fighter. It is very difficult to continue fighting at the highest level once a player has been in the sport for a long time.

The injuries that Benavidez is starting to suffer may be a sign that his body is breaking down from a long career. Although he is still young at 28 years old, he has been playing the sport for 11 years. Many fighters are physically shot when they reach their 10th year in the professional game. It has nothing to do with chronological age.

Physical breakdown is caused by wear and tear, and Benavidez may be showing early signs. First, the hands move, followed by reflexes and resistance to punches. He has never fought anyone in his career other than the 37-year-old Gvozdyk, who torched him in their clash at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Benavidez got through that fight without getting knocked out, but he took some terrible punishment from Gvozdyk.

David may be kidding himself because he was never a player, even when he was 168 years old. His knockouts came from the volume of his strikes against older, smaller fighters, and he never showed a hint of power during his 11-year career.

Benavidez looked the same as always, power-wise, the only difference being that his shots had no impact at 175, as they had against the smaller veterans he was fighting at 168. He was huge in that division and was matched up against him. Most of them were aged in recent years by their promoters. Moving up to 175, Benavidez’s power wasn’t the same and it clearly had nothing to do with the injury to both hands.

Signs of decline

“I had a lot of injuries in this fight. Seven weeks after the fight, I tore a ligament or tendon (in my right hand). It was a very serious injury,” David Benavidez said. TobinHe talks about why he had a poor fight in his 175-year-old debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.

“They said I need seven weeks to recover from that. Well, I don’t get it. I’ll go ahead and use my left hand, and hopefully by the time the (Gvozdik) fight gets there, that (right hand) will be back. So, I’m throwing punches, And five weeks before the fight, I hit the guy (sparring partner) on the top of the head.

“I actually broke that and I couldn’t use that (left hand) either. It was very painful,” Benavidez said, noting that both of his hands were injured while fighting his bout against 37-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Gvozdik. “So, I say to myself: ‘I’m not calling off the fight anyway.’” So, I will give him some time to recover.”

The Gvozdyk fight was a do-or-die fight for Benavidez regardless of his injuries, as this man was a cut above the men he was feeding off of at 168. Who did Benavidez beat at 168 that you would call a good fighter? These three are the best Benavidez has fought during his career as a super middleweight boxer: Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade, and Anthony Dirrell. We’re not talking about level men. These were B-level fighters, and two of them were very old.

Benaviez continued talking about his injury problem: “Two weeks later, I compete there again, and in the twelfth round, I got cut in my (left) eye.” “I’m getting 13 stitches. It’s torn. I didn’t know what to do. I have this injury (left hand) and this injury (right hand), and I have a cut. Because the fans mean a lot to me, and this is important to the boxing people and the BBC people.

“I’m like, ‘You know what?’ I’m going to go there and pray that my hand is healthy. My stamina is there. “I’ll just keep fighting.” I’m not kidding. I’m in the locker room, and I’m wearing gloves. I feel like my (left) hand is swollen. I feel like this (right hand) hurts. “I’m actually kind of nervous.”

Morel will benefit

Like I said, Benavidez’s body is breaking down after a long career in the sport, and he probably doesn’t have much time left. He will likely sustain injuries during his training camp for the Morel fight. If the fight is not postponed, he will go into the bout against Cuban Morel with an injury to one or both hands. This is not the type of guy Benavidez can afford to battle with injuries because he will fall apart due to such talent.

“I went out there and did a great job. I won eight or nine rounds against the veteran (Gvozdyk). He’s an Olympic silver medalist, he’s a unified light heavyweight champion (Correction: Gvozdyk is a former WBC 175-pound champion, (Not a former unified champion).”

Contrary to what Benavidez says, he did not do a “great job” in his fight against Gvozdyk. That match looked like it 100% should have ended in a 12-round draw. While the judges did Benavidez a favor by giving him the win, he can’t count on giving him a decision against Morel because he would remove the judges from the equation with his powerful punches.