David Benavidez predicts he will steal the show in the big fight by knocking out challenger Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their supporting fight tonight in their WBC interim light heavyweight title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
While Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) respects Gvozdyk’s talent and accomplishments during his prime, he feels his destiny is to win, look good, and steal the hype from Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis vs. Frank. Martin is the main one.
Given that Tank-Martin is expected to win Tank, there’s a good chance that Benavidez will make the night if his strength reaches the 175-lb division against Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs), who is a better fighter 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 with Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He was a decorated student and an Olympic medalist. He is a man of great talent,” said David Benavidez on First Take. “For this fight, I trained for four months in my training camp. I’m looking to steal the show and get Oleksandr Gvozdyk beat.
Promise to Steal the Show
“I’m going to go in there and steal the show. I will go in there and take out Oleksandr Gvozdyk,” said Benavidez.
Benavidez, 27, should avoid getting caught trying to impress too much in this fight because Gvozdyk can explode with powerful combinations and end the 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 see that David’s striking power will be a problem. I don’t see that David’s pressure will be a problem,” said super middleweight Lionel ‘Lonnie B’ Thompson speaking to Fighthype about his belief that Gvozdyk will beat Benavidez.
Benavidez “Better Protected”
“I don’t think David’s skills will be a problem. I think he has more skills than David. I think David is better protected. What I saw from the two players who were fighting when they were fighting, I found him hitting David.”
Gvozdyk has better skills than Benavidez, and has trained at a much higher level since his scholarship days in Ukraine. Benavidez stopped by using his size and volume. He didn’t have to develop his technical skills because he was much bigger than his opposition at 168, and faced less opposition.
As Lonnie B points out, Benavidez is “Protected” better by his management than Gvozdyk has.
What he means by that is that Benavidez was intentionally undermatched against guys like David Lemieux, Demetrius Andrade, and Caleb Plant instead of fighting talented opponents like David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia, and Dmitry Bivol. Benavidez is arguably a marketing creation like many fighters, who eat up winning fights to make themselves fake stars.
Boxing is a business, and it is the job of promoters to create fighters that will draw certain demographics. It would help if a fighter could be a superstar like Oscar De La Hoya, but he had real talent and fought for the best throughout his career.
Benavidez is a fighter who has fought outside of his natural weight class, lightweight and has been compared to fightable fighters to make him look better than he is.
Lonnie B. “David is used to fighting 154 and 160 pounds and he’s comfortable in fights,” said Lonnie B. “He’s big and very tall. The guys he’s fighting are my height and smaller than me. He’s getting used to being comfortable, the boys are coming down, right. “You’re going to get tired, you’re so young.”
Benavidez has had a size advantage against everyone he has fought during his career, and it was exciting to finally see him face someone as big as him. He looked nervous on Friday, staring across at Gvozdyk. You could see it in Benavidez’s eyes thinking, ‘Man, I can lose this fight.’
Gvozdyk’s strength
“Now, he’s fighting someone his size, who’s big and knows how to punch. He’s going to have to do some work,” said Lonnie B. “He’s going to have to come out of his shell and fight. This is right here in his defense. He will have to do something different.”
Benavidez always walks his opponents down behind the high guard and throws a straight right followed by a left hook. He will be mixing up a rapid fire combo, and it works against the opponents his bosses have fed him all the time.
“Gvozdyk can punch, and he’s big enough to stop David. He’s beaten guys who can hit better than David, and he’s fought guys who are much better than him. Do you think Benavidez punches harder than Adonis Stevenson? Do you think Benavidez hits harder than Beterbiev?” said Lonnie B.
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