Promoter Leonard Ellerbe is impressed with what he’s seen watching PBC fighter David Benavidez work out ahead of his fight this Saturday, June 15th, for the WBC interim light heavyweight title against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Ellerbe has got his promoter’s hat on and is hyping Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) to the hilt, who is moving up to 175 to try and position himself to fight the winner of the October 12th undisputed light heavyweight championship between IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev and WBA champ Dmitry Bivol.
Leapfrogging the Line
Some people feel it’s unfair that Benavidez is allowed to fight just once at 175 against Gvozdyk to battle for the undisputed in his second contest in the light heavyweight division.
Benavidez would be leap-frogging over the many contenders in the 175-lb division to get the opportunity to fight for the four belts.
Ideally, Benavidez should be placed at the bottom of the top 15 rankings at 175 and be made to work his way up the ladder like regular fighters instead of fighting in a WBC eliminator in his first fight. This is another reason why the sanctioning bodies need to be replaced with a global boxing league.
“I’m so mesmerized by his hand speed. I was looking at some footage of two of his fights this morning. He’s a beast,” said Leonard Ellerbe to Sean Zittel, talking about David Benavidez, who moves up to 175 this Saturday night to face Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Las Vegas.
Benavidez has hand speed but leaves himself wide open to getting hit by standing in front of his opponents and firing combinations. He’s been able to get away with this reckless fighting style for two reasons:
- Marginal opposition
- Size advantage: Fighting in a weight class one to two divisions below his size has enabled Benavidez to use a style he couldn’t utilize at light heavyweight or cruiserweight against the big punchers in those divisions.
- Youth
“How he breaks them down, and then in the middle or later rounds, he tries to take you out of there. I haven’t watched his footage in a while, but I was very impressed,” Ellerbe continued about Benavidez, who is with PBC, which makes it understandable why Leonard is complimenting him.
Ellerbe doesn’t name the fighters Benavidez “breaks down” in his fights. These are the fighters that Benavidez has been feasting on:
– Demetrius Andrade: Thirty-five-year old 154-pounder
– Caleb Plant: Knocked out by Canelo Alvarez
– David Lemieux
– Ronald Ellis
– Roamer Alexis Angulo
Canelo vs. Benavidez: The $200 Million Dream
“He’s going to watch. He’s a potential opponent at some point. Why wouldn’t he watch?” said Ellerbe when asked if Canelo Alvarez would be watching Benavidez on Saturday night. “If y’all think Canelo is scared of somebody, y’all crazy. This game comes down to this right here [money].”
Canelo Alvarez has already made it clear that he’s not fighting Benavidez unless he’s given $200 million, and he doesn’t appear to be kidding around. Ellerbe appears to be name-dropping by bringing up Canelo to create more PPV buys for Saturday’s event, using the false picture that Benavidez will soon be fighting him.
The reality is that Benavidez won’t be fighting Canelo, and he’ll likely be moving up to cruiserweight after getting beaten at 175.
“What is David [Benavidez] going to do that he [Canelo] ain’t seen before? He’s bigger, but he knows how to break down guys. When they fight, I’ll be front row. He might for all the money,” said Ellerbe, reacting to Benavidez saying that he thinks Canelo is saving him for the final fight of his career.
The money Canelo would receive to fight Benavidez wouldn’t be much more than what he’s currently getting to defend his titles at 168, which makes the fight not worth it unless someone wants to pay him the $200M that he’s asking for.
Gvozdyk Not Washed Up
“He ain’t washed,” said Ellerbe about Gvozdyk. “That’s just the narrative because they don’t want to give certain guys credit. You got to follow this s***,” Ellerbe dismissing the comments fans have been saying about the 37-year-old Gvozyk, who recently came out of retirement after bout out of the sport for four years. That’s a long time, and 37 isn’t young.
Gvozdyk isn’t washed, but he is up there in age and was retired for four years. This isn’t the Gvozdyk from six years ago, that’s for sure, but you can’t blame Ellerbe for wanting to paint the picture of him being in top form so that Benavidez gets full credit if he wins.
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