Benavidez is showing signs of wear and tear

David Benavidez turned 28 today, December 17th, as he prepares to fight regular WBA light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1st in Las Vegas. The “Mexican Monster” Benavidez won the interim 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 earn a 12-round unanimous decision against Gvozdyk. In an interview, Benavidez says he entered the fight with both injured hands and a recent cut. He feels that these injuries prevented him from being 100%. That’s what I was afraid of. Benavidez is starting to break through a long, long career in the sport.

Benavidez’s injury problems

He’s 28, but he might as well be 38. Benavidez has been a pro for as long as undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, and he’s also been plagued by repeated injuries. Being in the game for 10+ years does that for a fighter. It’s very difficult to keep fighting at the highest level once a guy has been in the sport for so long.

The injuries that Benavidez is starting to suffer could be a sign that his body is breaking down after a long run. Although he is still young at 28, he has been playing the sport for 11 years. Many wrestlers take a physical hit when they reach their 10th year in the professional game. It has nothing to do with chronological age.

The physical breakdown is from wear and tear, and Benavidez could show early signs. Hands go first, followed by reflexes and hit resistance. He hasn’t fought a puncher in his career other than the 37-year-old Gvozdyk, who lit him up in their showdown at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Benavidez made it through this fight without getting knocked out, but took some horrific punishment from Gvozdyk.

David could be kidding because he never pulled a punch, even at 168 years old. His knockouts came from his volume punches against bigger and smaller fighters, and he has never shown any hint of power in his 11-year career.

Benavidez looked the same as ever, power-wise, and the only difference was that his shots didn’t have the same effect at 175 as they did against the smaller veterans he’d been fighting at 168. He was huge for this division and was matched against mostly older figures of recent years by his promoters. Moving up to 175, Benavidez’s power was not the same and clearly had nothing to do with both injured hands.

Signs of decay

“I had a lot of injuries in this fight. Seven weeks after the fight, I tore a ligament or a tendon (in my right hand). It was a pretty bad injury,” said David Benavidez tobintalking about why he struggled so badly in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in Las Vegas.

“They said I needed seven weeks to recover from that. ‘Well, I don’t understand that. I’m going to go ahead and use my left hand, and hopefully when the (Gvozdyk) fight comes around, that (right hand) will be So I’m throwing punches and it’s five weeks before the fight, and I hit the guy (sparring partner) on the top of the head.

“I actually fractured that and I couldn’t use it (left hand) either. That hurt a lot,” Benavidez said, noting that both of his hands were injured while fighting the former WBC light heavyweight Gvozdyk, 37. “So I’m like, ‘I’m not going to cancel the fight anyway. So I’m just going to give him some time to recover.”

The Gvozdyk fight was going to be a life or death fight for Benavidez regardless of his injuries as this guy was at levels above what he had enjoyed at 168. Who beat Benavidez at 168 that can be called a good fighter ? These three are the best Benavidez fought during his super middleweight career: Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade and Anthony Dirrell. We’re not talking about A-level guys. These are B-level fighters, and two of them were very old.

“Two weeks later, I’m training there again and in the 12th round, they cut my (left) eye,” Benaviez continued about his injury problem. “I got 13 stitches. I was 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 a big problem for boxing people and PBC people.

“I’m like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go in there and pray that my hands are healthy. My resistance is there. I’m just going to keep fighting. I’m not kidding you. I’m in the dressing room and I’m hitting the gloves. I feel like my (left) hand is swelling. I feel that this (right hand) hurts. I’m already a little nervous.”

Morrell will capitalize

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 is likely to suffer injuries during his training camp for the Morrell fight. If he does not postpone the fight, he will enter the competition against the Cuban Morrell with injuries to one or both hands. This is not the type of guy that Benavidez can afford to fight with injuries because this talent will tear him apart.

“I went in there and did a great job. I won eight or nine rounds against a veteran (Gvozdyk). He was a silver medalist at the Olympics and was a unified light heavyweight champion (correction: Gvozdyk is a former WBC 175-pound champion, NOT a former unified champion),” Benavidez said.

Contrary to what Benafvidez says, he did NOT do a “great job” in his fight against Gvozdyk. That match looked 100% like it should have gone to a draw at 12 rounds. While the judges did Benavidez a favor by giving him the win, he can’t count on them giving him a decision against Morrell because he will take the judges out of the equation with his striking power.