LAS VEGAS — An hour or so after he added another world championship to his collection with a unanimous decision victory Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden over Oleksandr Gvozdyk, David Benavidez stood in a hotel ballroom and rattled off a litany of injuries he’d suffered in training camp. A few of them were significant enough that he considered the possibility of pulling out.
It would have been a shorter list had he just mentioned his body parts that survived camp intact.
Despite all of that, though, and despite an aging but talented opponent, Benavidez showed his class and claimed the interim WBC light heavyweight title by scores of 117-111, 119-109 and 116-112.
The night was big for Benavidez for a variety of reasons, and a guy who was nowhere near to be found was at the center of many of them. Benavidez was fighting for a light heavyweight belt in the first place because he couldn’t convince undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez to give him a shot.
Alvarez instead chose to fight Jaime Munguia. But Benavidez tired of all of the negotiating and talks and took the fight with Gvozdyk even before Alvarez had finalized his Cinco de Mayo plans.
Battered body and all, the gamble paid off. He won the fight and, more imporantly perhaps, he won the fans over.
“I had him hurt a couple of times,” Benavidez said. “I wasn't throwing a lot of combinations because I reinjured my hand in the third round. I tore my right ligament four weeks before the fight and I hurt my left hand in camp. I'm proud of myself because I also got a cut three weeks ago and I pushed through and gave the fans a good fight.”
The crowd of 13,249 that turned out rose as one as Benavidez made his ring walk. They roared their approval whenever anything in the fight went his way, and they were almost giddy when he was announced as the winner. The loudest roars, through, came when Benavidez invoked Alvarez’s name.
That’s the fight the fans want to see, and it’s one of the biggest fights to be made in boxing.
An Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga fight is a snoozer that Alvarez would dominate and doesn’t really belong on pay-per-view. But because Alvarez commands so much money, it’ll be on pay-per-view and they’ll ask $75 or $80 for it, if not more.
A Benavidez-Alvarez fight would do big numbers and grab the attention of the boxing world.
“I just want to be great,” Benavidez said, softly, at the post-fight news conference. He’s well-positioned. He’ll fight the winner of the undisputed light heavyweight title fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol or Alvarez next.
Either way, it’s a significant payday and an impactful bout.
Gvozdyk is no joke, though he’s in the early stages of a comeback after four years away. Once the unified champion, Gvozdyk flashed moments on Saturday but he wasn’t energized enough to push hard throughout.
"I think the scores were pretty accurate,” a glum Gvozdyk said. “It was a good fight, a close fight. He was better in the first half of the fight, but I think I started doing better in the second half. I'd love a rematch with him."
That’s not going to happen. Benavidez has big things ahead and Gvozdyk’s old news at this point.
An Alvarez-Benavidez fight is the one to make for September. It would pit the two best 168-pounders in the world and might be the first time in a while that Alvarez wouldn’t be the favorite. Benavidez is bigger, too, though he said Saturday he only rehydrated by 14 pounds and came in at 189.
It’s a fight which, with the right push, could do at least 750,000 sales and perhaps a million.
“I’m not chasing Canelo,” Benavidez said in one breath, even if at other times that exactly what he did.
But his point is taken: He needs to make himself as big as possible until it’s possible for Alvarez to ignore him. He’s getting to that point now, frankly.
Benavidez is maturing before our eyes. He hasn’t had the hardest road by any shot, but he has all the punches, is accurate and knows his way around the ring. Best, he’s still only 27 and getting better.
They’re going to have to fight eventually. The longer Alvarez waits, though, the better Benavidez gets.
There’s no time better than the present.
Esther Lin/PBC
Oleksandr Gvozdyk (L) and David Benavidez battle Saturday for the interim WBC light heavyweight title.