The Maturation Of David Benavidez

GLENDALE, Arizona – David Benavidez stopped and turned to make a request he normally wouldn’t make while still a full day from officially making weight.

The unbeaten former two-time WBC super middleweight titlist was holding court with the media following the final pre-fight press conference when he casually asked a team member to grab a bottle of water. Forever chastised for missing weight prior to what became the end of his second title reign less than two years ago, the 25-year-old Phoenix native has since refused to leave any stone unturned in training camp.

“All it took was that one time, I learned my lesson the hard way,” Benavidez confessed to BoxingScene.com. “Ever since then, I’ve been more on top of my weight before training camp begins. There are a lot of big fights out there for me—(WBC middleweight titlist and longtime Benavidez antagonist) Jermall Charlo, (former IBF super middleweight titlist) Caleb Plant and Canelo. In order to get to the next level, I need those fights. That’s just the reality of it. I get there by taking it one fight at a time, doing it the right way every time.”

The results showed when Benavidez returned to his childhood hometown of Phoenix at the start of fight week, looking like he was ready to make weight well in advance of his interim WBC super middleweight title clash with Montreal’s David Lemieux (43-4, 36KOs). The two collide this Saturday on Showtime from Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, not too far from Beanvidez’s Phoenix childhood hometown where he headlined last November 13 in a seventh-round knockout of Kyrone Davis.

The matchup with Davis was piecemealed when originally scheduled opponent Jose Uzcategui tested positive for a banned substance and was pulled from the event. With the change came a contract shift, with the bout taking place at a maximum limit of 169 pounds which was Benavidez’s official weight. There was initial confusion when the figure was read, with cries that he blew weight for the second time in three fights.

Benavidez was two fights removed from losing his WBC title at the scale after coming in well over the super middleweight limit for an eventual tenth-round stoppage of Alexis Angulo in August 2020 behind closed doors at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut. It was his first fight since the pandemic, one where he mistimed his weight cut and overestimated the amount of training time he would be allotted in the Mohegan Sun bubble during fight week.

The decision to weigh 169 for the Davis fight was not out of necessity but convenience—and within the terms of the contract, as Davis’ team even acknowledged. However, Benavidez still found himself performing damage control even after showing up on point for his previous outing when he weighed 167 ¼ pounds for his tenth-round knockout of Ronald Ellis in their March 2021 title eliminator.

“I could’ve easily made 168 for the Kyrone Davis fight,” noted Benavidez. “We made the adjustment in camp after the opponent switched and the fight was no longer (sanctioned by the WBC). I could have proven a point and weighed under the super middleweight limit but it wasn’t necessary to lose that extra pound when the contract said what we could weigh.