David Benavidez is expected to steal the show in tonight's main event bout for the WBC interim light heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas by knocking out his main opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) respects Gvozdyk's talent and what he's accomplished in his amateur and pro career, but feels it's his destiny to win, look good and steal the attention from the headlining Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs. Frank Martin bout.
Tank vs. Martin is expected to be a dominating win for Tank, so if Benavidez's power carries over to the 175-pound division, there's a good chance Benavidez will put in his best performance of the night against Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs), who is a better puncher.
Benavidez has the advantage in terms of energy, speed and youth over the 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Gvozdyk.
“I've trained very hard for Oleksandr Gvozdyk. He's had a spectacular amateur career, he's won medals at the Olympics, he's a guy with great talent,” David Benavidez told First Take. “I've been training for this fight for four months in training camp. I want to steal the show and knock out Oleksandr Gvozdyk.”
Promises that grab attention
“I'm going to go out there and get some attention. I'm going to go out there and knock out Oleksandr Gvozdyk,” Benavidez said.
The 27-year-old Benavidez should not try to impress too much in this bout, as Gvozdyk could unleash a powerful combination to end the fight quickly.
We saw him do that against Adonis Stevenson, who was dangerous with quick knockouts in his last two fights.
“I don't think David's punching power will be an issue. I don't think David's pressure will be an issue,” super middleweight Lionel “Ronnie B” Thompson told FightHype about his thoughts on Gvozdyk beating Benavidez.
Benavidez is 'better protected'
“I don't think David's technique will be an issue. I think I have much better technique than David, but I think David has been better protected. Having seen the two fighters fight, I think David will win.”
Gvozdyk certainly has better technique than Benavidez and has been trained by the best since his amateur days in Ukraine, but Benavidez has used his size and volume to his advantage, never needing to hone his technical skills because he is much bigger and facing weaker opponents at 168 pounds.
As Ronnie B points out, Benavidez has been more “protected” by management than Gvozdyk.
What he's trying to say is that Benavidez purposefully chose not to face fighters like David Lemieux, Demetrius Andrade or Caleb Plant, but rather to face talented opponents like David Morrell, Artur Beterbiev, Jay Opetaia or Dmitry Bivol. Benavidez is a marketing construct, like so many fighters who are spoon-fed winnable fights to make them false stars.
Boxing is a business and it's the promoter's job to develop fighters that will appeal to a certain demographic. It would be nice to have a crossover star like Oscar De La Hoya, who was extremely talented and was a great fighter throughout his career.
Benavidez is a fighter who has fought outside his natural weight class of light heavyweight and faced fighters he thinks he can beat in order to make himself look better than he actually is.
“David is used to fighting strong guys at 154 and 160 pounds and he's very calm in the fights,” said Ronnie B. “He's very big and tall. The guys he's fighting are my height and smaller than me. He's used to taking them down with his right hand. 'That's going to tire you out, you're too small.'”
Benavidez has had a size advantage over everyone he's faced in his career, so it will be interesting to see him finally face someone his own size. He looked intimidated on Friday as he stared down Gvozdyk. You could see the thought in Benavidez's eyes: “I might lose this fight.”
Gvozdik's Power
“He's now fighting someone his size, bigger, punching harder. He's got to work,” Ronnie B said. “He's got to come out of his shell. This is the way he plays defense. He's got to do something different.”
Benavidez consistently forces his opponents behind a high guard and lands a straight right followed by a left hook. He then unleashes the rapid-fire combinations that work every time against whoever his management gives him.
“Gvozdyk has the punching power and is big enough to stop David. He's fought guys who punch harder than David and he's fought guys who are much stronger than David. Do you think Benavidez has more punching power than Adonis Stevenson? Do you think Benavidez has more punching power than Beterbiev?” said Ronnie B.
