David Benavidez’s father, Jose Benavidez Sr., is already talking about seeking WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol next despite Oleksandr Gvozdyk being in David’s line this Saturday night June 15th.
Jose Sr. believes victory is already in the bag for his son, Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), in his twelve-round bout against former WBC 175-lb champion Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs), and he won. he thinks Bivol will defeat IBF/WBC/WBO champion Artur Beterbiev on October 12.
It’s not a foregone conclusion that Bivol wins that fight, even though Beterbiev is forced back into the ring after tearing his meniscus.
This Saturday, Benavidez will fight Gvozdyk for the interim WBC 175-lb title on PBC on Prime Video Pay-Per-View at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Benavidez and his father, Jose Sr., should focus on Gvozdyk instead of talking about the Bivol fight and whining about Canelo Alvarez 24/7.
Past Success Does Not Guarantee Future Success
“We’re not trying to stop this guy, but we’re looking to impress, and I think David will stop Oleksandr,” Jose Benavidez Sr. said. facing Oleksandr Gvozdyk this Saturday night June 15th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
If Jose Jr. and Benavidez didn’t ignore Gvozdyk, why talk about Bivol and Canelo? In discussions of the build-up to Saturday’s card, Benavidez talked about Canelo, and said nothing about Gvozdyk.
When Benavidez talked about Gvozdyk, he was talked about getting the better of him 21 years ago.
“We have prepared hard for this war. A new phase,” said Jose Sr. “We’re fighting a boy [Gvozdyk] former Olympian, former champion. He has only one loss. You are defeated [Artur] Beterbiev [in 2019]. He is a very dangerous fighter. He must show people that he belongs here.”
Gvozdyk has beaten better opposition than Benavidez, and if anyone needs to prove he belongs, it’s David. Benavidez’s best win was against Caleb Plant, who Canelo had already knocked out. Gvozdyk stopped Adonis Stevenson, a fighter on another level than Plant.
“This is a great opportunity for Oleksandr to beat David. We trained hard to look amazing,” said Benavidez Sr. “We will not just defeat Oleksandr. We have to look amazing to keep showing people that you are the best at 168 and 175. “
Benavidez won’t get a huge amount of credit for beating Gvozdyk, no matter how good he looks. Gvozdyk is now 37 years old and retired from 2019 to 2023.
He just came out of retirement last year. If Benavidez wanted to get credit, he should have accepted a call from David Morrell Jr., who is 26 and dangerous.
Premature Focus on Bivol
“Bivol beat Canelo Alvarez, so we’re trying to beat the one-hit guy. I think it will be an honor for us to fight Bivol because he beat Zurdo Ramirez and beat Canelo Alvarez,” said Jose Sr. he will put David in a greater position than he is now.”
As you can see, Jose Sr. look at Gvozdyk and think Bivol will defeat Beterbiev on October 12. It may not play out like Jose Sr. seeing things. Benavidez could lose to Gvozdyk this Saturday night, while Bivol could come up against Beterbiev.
“We try to look for big fighters, dangerous fighters, fighters that no one wants to face,” said Jose Sr. “They are the ones we are after. Oleksandr has nothing to lose and a lot to gain. If we beat Oleksandr, we won’t get the credit we deserve.”
If Jose Sr. thinking Benavidez wouldn’t get credit for beating Gvozdyk, he shouldn’t have chosen to fight him. He has only himself to blame for choosing Gvozdyk over David Morrell Jr. or Jai Opetaia. Both of those fighters are interested in fighting Benavidez, but he’s not willing to go through with it either.
“People will say, ‘You’re done.’ He has only one loss. Like I said, he’s not a pushover. We trained hard to look amazing. We will try to hurt him and try to get him out,” said Jose Sr.
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