Shane Mosley Jr., the middleweight contender, believes David Benavidez’s youth advantage would enable him to defeat Canelo Alvarez if the two fight this year.
The 27-year-old Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is seven years younger than the 34-year-old Canelo Alvarez, and he hasn’t had the same tough fights as him against warriors like Gennadiy Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, Jaime Munguia, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Dmitry Bivol and Sergey Kovalev.
Benaviez’s career resume is poor in comparison, and that’s one of the reasons why he’s criticized so much. He’s taken an easy path to the top with only one notable in his prime name, Caleb Plant, and Canelo had already knocked him out.
Considering how big Benavidez is, you can’t call him a true super middleweight because he boils down in weight from light heavyweight to compete against smaller fighters at 168.
Benavidez: A Modern-Day Chavez Jr?
You can argue that Benavidez is a weight bully, and he has been his entire career. He’s doing what Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. did earlier in his career, draining huge amounts of weight to compete at 154 and 160 and win fights against notable opposition.
Benavidez is this era’s version of Chavez Jr. with how he drains down to take advantage of smaller opposition in a weight class that he shouldn’t be fighting due to his huge, light-heavy-sized frame. What Benavidez is doing is the same thing Chavez Jr. did.
Younger fans who weren’t following the sport years ago aren’t aware of Chavez Jr.’s success back then. They only know him from what he became later in his career after he could no longer meltdown to compete at 154 and 160.
He was a much different fighter early on when he enjoyed a huge size advantage over his opponents at junior middleweight and middleweight. He was doing what Benavidez is doing now, fighting well below his weight class.
Chavez Jr.’s Early Success and Downfall
Chavez Jr. enjoyed much success by melting in weight to compete in those weight classes, beating many top fighters, and capturing a world title at middleweight in 2011. However, once he could no longer make weight for 160, his career went downhill rapidly.
During Chavez Jr’s prime from 2008 to 2014, he beat these good fighters:
– Andy Lee
– Brian Vera
– Sebastian Zbik
– Marco Antonio Rubio
– John Duddy
– Peter Manfredo Jr
I believe the same thing will happen with David Benavidez once he’s forced to fight at 175 permanently. We have already gotten a glimpse of the problems Benavidez will have at light heavyweight in his debut against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
Benavidez had major problems beating Gvozdyk, and the fight was much closer than the three judges’ one-sided scores. The fight showed that Benavidez is another Chavez Jr., and his career will sink when he can no longer drain down to 168.
“I sparred him years ago, and he’s become a great fighter since,” said Shane Mosley Jr. to Pro Boxing Fans, talking about Canelo Alvarez. “He’s done it all. He’s had a legendary and probably one of the greatest careers in boxing.
“He’s fought everybody. He’s done all you need to do. He doesn’t need to necessarily fight a guy like David Benavidez. David Benavidez needs to fight him. But obviously, as long as he’s going to be in the game, everybody is going to point out that name and point out that fight for him because they want to see the best fight the best.”
Canelo isn’t a light heavyweight, and that’s the problem he would have against Benavidez because that guy doesn’t belong at 168.
If there was a 10-lb rehydration clause, I don’t think he would make weight for the secondary weigh-in. Benavidez could drain down to make 168, but he likely couldn’t keep from rehydrating up to the 180s or 190s. Canelo shouldn’t be expected to fight someone that big for a match at super middleweight. No one should.
“I think it’s a great fight. I would love to see it happen. I don’t think it necessarily needs to happen, but I would love to see it happen,” said Mosley Jr. “I think David Benavidez might be a little bit too young, as far as I think he would have the advantage because of the youth,” said Mosley Jr. about his belief that Benavidez would be too fresh for Canelo.
If Canelo had fought at light heavyweight and had rehydrated into the 190s, fighting Benavidez wouldn’t have been an issue, but that’s not the situation here. Benavidez should be fighting in his natural weight class at 175 and focus on facing killers like Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol instead of competing at 168.
“He has the fresher body. They’re both explosive. They both throw good combinations. They’re both veterans, but because of the youth, I think Benavidez might be a little bit too young and fresh for him,” said Shane Jr.
Benavidez is fresh at 168, but he’s an average fighter at 175, and I think it will be a problem for him once he can no longer make weight at 168. I think Benavidez will stay at 168 for as long as he can because he knows it’s the end of the road once he’s forced to fight at 175.
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