David Benavidez is predicting he’s going to steal the show from the main event fight by knocking out his opponent Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their chief support bout tonight in their clash for the WBC interim light heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) is respectful of Gvozdyk’s talent and his accomplishments during his amateur and pro career, he feels it’s his destiny to win, look great, and steal the thunder from the Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Frank Martin headliner.
Considering that Tank-Martin is expected to be a blowout win for Tank, there’s a good chance Benavidez could have the performance of the night if his power carries up to the 175-lb division against Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs), who is a better puncher than him.
Benavidez has the work rate, speed, and youth advantage over the 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Gvozdyk.
“I trained very well for Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He was a decorated amateur and has a medal in the Olympics. He’s a man with great talent,” said David Benavidez to First Take. “For this fight, I trained for four months in my training camp. I’m looking to steal the show and get a knockout of Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
A Promise to Steal the Show
“I’m going to go in there and steal the show. I’m going to go in there and knock out Oleksandr Gvozdyk,” said Benavidez.
Benavidez, 27, should avoid getting caught up in trying to impress too much in this fight because Gvozdyk can explode with powerful combinations and end a fight quickly.
We saw him do that against Adonis Stevenson, and he’s looked dangerous in his last two fights, scoring quick knockouts.
“I don’t think David’s punching power is going to be a problem. I don’t think David’s pressure is going to be a problem,” said super middleweight Lionell ‘Lonnie B’ Thompson to Fighthype about his belief that Gvozdyk will defeat Benavidez.
Benavidez Has Been “Protected Better”
“I don’t think David’s skills will be a problem. I think he has way more skills than David. I just think David has been protected better. From what I’ve seen of both fighters when they fight, I got him beating David.”
Gvozdyk does have better skills than Benavidez, and he’s been trained with the best from his amateur days in Ukraine. Benavidez has gotten away with using his size and volume. He hasn’t had to develop his technical skills because he’s been much bigger than his opposition at 168, and he’s faced lesser opposition.
As Lonnie B points out, Benavidez has been “Protected” better by his management than Gvozdyk has.
What he means by that is Benavidez hasn’t purposefully matched against guys like David Lemieux, Demetrius Andrade, and Caleb Plant rather than fighting talented opposition like David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia, and Dmitry Bivol. Benavidez is arguably a marketing creation like many fighters, who spoon-fed winnable fights to turn them into fake stars.
Boxing is a business, and it’s the promoters’ job to create fighters to draw with a certain demographic. It would help if a fighter could become a crossover star like Oscar De La Hoya, but he had real talent and fought the best his entire career.
Benavidez is a fighter who has fought outside of his natural weight class, light heavyweight and matched against beatable fighters to make him look better than he is.
“David is used to fighting blown up 154 and 160-pounders and being comfortable in fights,” said Lonnie B. “He’s so big and so tall. These guys he’s fighting are my height and smaller than me. He’s used to being comfortable walking guys down, right hand. ‘You going to get tired, you too small.”
Benavidez has had the size advantage against everyone he’s fought during his career, and it was interesting to see him finally facing someone as big as him. He looked intimidated on Friday, staring across at Gvozdyk. You could see it in Benavidez’s eyes him thinking, ‘Man, I could lose this fight.’
Gvozdyk’s Power
“Now, he’s fighting someone his size, big and can punch. He’s going to have to put out some work,” said Lonnie B. “He’s going to have to come out of his shell and fight. This right here with his defense. He’s going to have to do something different.”
Benavidez always walks his opponents down behind a high guard and throws a straight right followed by a left hook. He’ll then rattle off a rapid-fire combination, and it works against the opposition his management has fed him every time.
“Gvozdyk can punch, and he’s big enough to keep David off. He’s been hit with guys that can punch better than David, and he’s fought guys way better than him. Do you think Benavidez punches harder than Adonis Stevenson? Do you think Benavidez punches harder than Beterbiev?” said Lonnie B.
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