David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) fought with an injured hand and a cut eye in his 12-round unanimous decision win over Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-2, 16 KOs) on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions)
A Gritty Win Marred by Pre-Existing Injuries
Benavidez fought through injuries to capture the WBC interim light heavyweight title by the scores of 117-110, 119-109, and 116-112. He says the injuries occurred in training camp, but he stuck with it, going into the contest anyway and coming out victorious. The fight looked close enough to be scored a draw, but the judges still gave it to Benavidez by lopsided scores.
The people who bet money on Benavidez to knockout Gvozdyk might not be happy finding out that he fought with injuries because he would have been better off postponing the fight or disclosing his physical problems ahead of time.
It was not the type of performance that boxing fans are accustomed to seeing from Benavidez because he didn’t look his usual overpowering self against a fighter well-vetted ahead of time and deemed not a threat to beating him. He would have dominated this guy if he’d been healthy.
The Injuries and the Decision to Fight On
“I was definitely worried about it. I started camp a month and a half ago. I tore a tendon. They told me it wasn’t going to heal in time. They told it needed at least three months. I said, ‘I don’t care. I’m going to keep fighting. I’m going to keep training,’” said Benavidez to the media at the post-fight press conference, talking about having a tendon injury in his right hand and a cut that happened in training camp for his fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
“Then I hurt this hand [left], and they told me, ‘You have to take a break for it,’ and I said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen. I’m going to keep fighting.’ Three weeks ago, I’m sparring, dominating three different sparring partners, and in the last round, I got cut. That worried me a lot.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it here, but my dad told me, ‘The cut is not too big; we can keep going.’ I put my faith in God because I wanted to get to this fight. I didn’t want to miss out on this event. I didn’t want the fans to miss out because this was a big moment for the fans.
“This was the biggest event for PBC for this whole year. I said, ‘F*** it, I’m going to keep training.’ I made it to this fight, came out with some injuries, but I still won,” said Benavidez.
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