Benavidez brutalizes Davis, makes case he should be next up for Canelo in May

Munguia outslugs Rosado in all-action battle; Martinez upsets Galahad to win featherweight title; Quick hits; Show and tell

Nov 14, 2021

Former two-time super middleweight world titlist David Benavidez did his part on Saturday night to make the case that he should be the next opponent for newly crowned undisputed super middleweight world champion Canelo Alvarez.

Fighting one week after pound-for-pound king Alvarez knocked out Caleb Plant in the 11th round to unify all four 168-pound world titles to become the first-ever undisputed champion in division history, Benavidez shared the spotlight with Alvarez and made his case he should be next.

Showtime opened its telecast with a replay of the Alvarez-Plant pay-per-view fight. Later, in the main event, Benavidez delivered a one-sided beating to the valiant Kyrone Davis in a seventh-round knockout victory at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Benavidez’s hometown.

“I think everybody wants to see me against Canelo, right,” Benavidez said as the crowd cheered. “I don’t care really care what (Alvarez’s) assessment is (of my fight) but they keep putting these contenders in front of me. My last fight was a WBC title eliminator. They need to give me an opportunity. I’ll go through anybody.

“Whoever they want me to go through. If (WBC middleweight titlist Jermall) Charlo wants it, he can get it too. But he doesn’t want to get in the ring with me because he’s a p----, that’s why.”

Alvarez said he plans to be back in the ring in May and Benavidez and Charlo are two of the leading candidates for the assignment.

Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs), 24, went about his business in ruthless fashion against Davis, who took the fight on two weeks’ notice after former world titleholder Jose Uzcategui (31-4, 26 KOs) tested positive for synthetic EPO, a banned substance that aids endurance, in a random urine test conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association and was removed from what was supposed to be a WBC final eliminator.

In stepped Davis and even though the bout was downgraded from an official 12-round eliminator to a 10-rounder, for Benavidez it was a de facto eliminator if he wanted to stay in contention to land a fight with Alvarez.

Benavidez, who had not boxed at home since he was a six-round preliminary fighter in 2015, overwhelmed the smaller Davis, who two fights ago had the best performance of his career in a draw with former two-time WBC super middleweight titlist Anthony Dirrell on Feb. 27.

Davis (16-3-1, 6 KOs), 27, of Wilmington, Delaware, showed enormous heart but Benavidez’s constant pressure, volume punching, clean combinations and body punching were too much.

Benavidez was relentless, forcing Davis to the ropes often and unloading on him. He rocked him with left hooks and sometimes switched to a southpaw stance. In the fifth round alone, he landed 44 punches on Davis. After the round, Davis trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards told him he would stop the fight if he didn’t show him something.

But Davis took massive punishment in the sixth round and when Benavidez continued to pour it on in the seventh, Edwards threw a white towel into the ring to signify surrender and referee Wes Melton waved it off at 48 seconds.

“That was a great performance on my end. A lot of courage by Kyrone. A lot of respect to him and his team. He’s a tough dude,” Benavidez said. “I came out here to give the fans a good fight and we both left it all out in the ring.

“It was tough but the thing about me is that I have so much conditioning that I’m going to keep going until he eventually stops. That’s what eventually happens. They tend to give up. I know that I don’t have that one-punch knockout power but I’m going to be ready to get you every single round.”

According to CompuBox statistics, Benavidez landed 181 of 382 punches (47 percent) and Davis landed just 54 of 233 (23 percent). Of Benavidez’s output, he landed 137 power shots (51 percent) and 50 body punches.

Davis was proud of a performance in which he never tried despite being so outgunned.

“I feel OK. I’m a little disappointed,” Davis said. “I wish I could have pulled out the victory. I don’t like losing. I came in on two weeks’ notice. Shame on Uzcategui for being on steroids. I had to come in on short notice, but I fought like a warrior.

“I’m living my dream. I love coming out here and putting on a great show. Fighting is in my blood. I was raised like this. When they called me and said I’d be fighting one of the top dudes in the division, how the hell am I going to pass that up? I came out here and fought my ass off and I did the best that I could. Maybe one time we can do it again.”

Benavidez Jr.-Torres a draw

Jose Benavidez Jr. returned from a three-year layoff with a disappointing majority draw against unheralded underdog Francisco Emanuel Torres in the co-feature.

Benavidez (27-1-1, 18 KOs), 29, of Phoenix, the older brother of headliner David Benavidez, had not boxed since a one-sided 12th-round knockout loss challenging WBO welterweight titlist Terence Crawford in October 2018. He moved up from welterweight and faced Torres (17-3-1, 5 KOs), 31, of Argentina, at middleweight and did not look sharp.

Benavidez showed plenty of ring rust from his layoff and had a hard time dealing with Torres’ jab and movement. In the end, judge Rubin “Rocky” Taylor scored the fight 96-95 for Benavidez but Dennis O’Connell and Chris Wilson both scored the fight 95-95.

Torres won the 10th round on all three scorecards to make it a draw.

Benavidez, who nearly died from a loss of blood when he was shot in the right leg in August 2016 and admits he will never be the same in terms of his boxing ability, was stunned by the result.

“I don’t know how I got a draw. We can run it back. I beat him. I thought I beat him. He kept running,” Benavidez said. “He didn’t want to stay in the pocket. I can’t do anything about the judges’ decisions. I felt good. He just kept holding. I beat him every round. What can I do?

“I beat him. He wasn’t hitting me hard. He just kept holding. It’s all good. My leg is good. I’m good. I’ll go back and train. Next time I’d stop him if he don’t run.”

Benavidez admitted his time away from the ring was an issue.

“A little rusty after three years,” he said. “It was a good fight. He had an awkward style. He took hard shots and I give him respect. I thank him for having given me the opportunity to fight him. I gotta go back to the gym now. Can’t leave it up to the judges next time.”

Torres felt he was the rightful winner.

“I felt I won the fight. As a visitor, I came here to his backyard and they still gave it a draw,” Torres said through an interpreter. “Imagine if this would have been in Buenos Aires? I definitely want the rematch. Let’s see what my management team says but I definitely want it.”

Munguia outslugs Rosado

Middleweights Jaime Munguia and Gabriel Rosado assured everybody beforehand that their main event on the Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN would be an all-out slugfest, and they delivered as promised.

From start to finish, they put on a tremendous back-and-forth battle, although former junior middleweight world titlist Munguia got the better of the blistering action in most rounds and was rewarded with a lopsided unanimous decision — 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 — before 8,435 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

“I didn’t think that Rosado would last that long in the ring,” Munguia said through an interpreter. “He was very resilient, but I think I showed in the ninth round and on that I was dominating the fight. I am happy we were able to take the victory today.”

There were several rounds with wild action, such as the fourth. They were competitive rounds, but Munguia, who is trained by Hall of Famer Erik Morales, was landing the heavier punches and more of them.

Even when Rosado looked like he was gassed he would find a second wind and come back late in rounds. After the ninth round ended, Rosado kept throwing punches and was given a hard warning by referee Jack Reiss.

In the 10th round, Munguia was battering Rosado before he came back late in the round and forced Munguia back with a hard short right hand. But Munguia never wilted and continued to fire combinations. He had Rosado, whose face was swelling, hanging on after landing some big shots in the 11th round.

“This was my toughest fight so far because of the way he would tie up, but I think it was a great fight that everyone enjoyed, Munguia said. “He was a strong opponent because he was coming back down from 168 pounds, very experienced as well. The truth is I really enjoyed this fight. He took a lot of punches, three, four, six punches. But he’s a strong fighter who can take a lot of punishment. My respect to him.”

Munguia (38-0, 30 KOs), 25, of Mexico, was in his fourth fight at middleweight since moving up after vacating his junior middleweight title in late 2019. He is well positioned in various sanctioning organizations and a title shot could be in the offing in 2022. He and his team said they would like a shot at Gennadiy Golovkin, who will first meet Ryota Murata in a unification fight on Dec. 29 in Japan. But whoever is next, Munguia mainly wants a bigger fight.

“I want to go back to the gym, work on a few things and fight for a world title eliminator or a world championship at 160,” Munguia said.

Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs), 35, a Puerto Rican from Philadelphia, who is trained by Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, has faced many top opponents and twice fought for a middleweight title in stoppage losses to Golovkin and Peter Quillin, but he earned the fight with Munguia on his undercard in June by scoring a third-round upset knockout of heavily touted up-and-comer Bektemir Melikuziev, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan.

Rosado did not complain forcefully about the loss, but he was ticked off by the scoring.

“I thought the scorecards were too wide. I thought the fight was a lot closer,” Rosado said. “He never hurt me but I hurt him for sure. It was obvious that I hurt him. I had him hurt in a few rounds. I kept pressuring him. I thought the fight was a lot closer.

“The whole point is we gave the fans a great fight. I hope the fans enjoyed it. If we get a rematch, great. If not, we’ll see what happens. I’m proud of my performance. He’s a good fighter, but I thought I did enough.”

Martinez scores massive upset

Kiko Martinez, a former junior featherweight world titlist viewed by most as long past his best days, knocked out Kid Galahad in the sixth round to take his IBF featherweight belt in a huge upset on Saturday in the Matchroom Boxing main event on DAZN at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England, Galahad’s hometown.

Galahad dominated the first four-plus rounds, but in the final seconds of the fifth round Martinez landed a hard sweeping right hand across Galahad’s face for a hard knockdown. He beat the count and got the one-minute rest period but was still shaky when the sixth round began. On the first and only punch of the round, Martinez landed another tremendous right hand that flattened Galahad, causing referee Steve Gray to wave off the fight without a count six seconds into the round.

According to CompuBox, Galahad landed 130 of 486 punches (27 percent) and Martinez just 49 of 246 (20 percent).

Galahad (28-2, 17 KOs), 31, had knocked out longtime friend and sparring partner James “Jazza” Dickens in the 11th round to win the vacant title in August and Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn set up a homecoming defense of him against the hand-picked Martinez. It was supposed to be an easy defense before a possible unification fight in 2022 against Leigh Wood.

Martinez (43-10-2, 30 KOs), 35, of Spain, also won his first world title by upset when he knocked out Jonathan Romero in the sixth round in August 2013 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Quick hits

During Showtime’s telecast on Saturday night, the network made official two bouts that will air as part of the card headlined by Nonito Donaire’s WBC bantamweight title defense against interim titlist Reymart Gaballo on Dec. 11 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California. Welterweight Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-0, 10 KOs), 28, an Uzbekistan native fighting out of Malaysia, will meet Cody Crowley (19-0, 9 KOs), 28, a Canadian southpaw, in one fight and junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee (23-0, 21 KOs), 22, of La Quinta, California, will face Juan Heraldez (16-1-1, 10 KOs), 31, of Las Vegas, whose only loss came in his last fight by third-round knockout to former titlist Regis Prograis in October 2020.

Undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor (19-0, 6 KOs), 35, of Ireland, now has an opponent for her defense on Dec. 11 (DAZN) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. She will face WBA mandatory challenger Firuza Sharipova (14-1, 8 KOs), 27, of Kazakhstan, Matchroom Boxing announced. Welterweight Conor Benn headlines against former junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri. In another bout announced for the card, Karim Guerfi (30-5, 9 KOs), 34, of France, will make his first European featherweight title defense against Jordan Gill (26-1, 7 KOs), 27, of England.

The WBA has named Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs), 33, an Armenia native fighting out of Los Angeles, its junior featherweight mandatory challenger for the winner of the fight between unified titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 KOs) and Jose Velasquez (29-6-2 19 KOs), who meet Nov. 19. The WBA made the decision after Ra’eese Aleem (18-0, 12 KOs) informed the organization he will face Eduardo Baez on Nov. 27, as planned, instead of accepting his position in an eliminator against Hovhannisyan the WBA ordered and held a purse bid for last week, which Golden Boy won as the only bidder for $80,001.

Show and tell

When you make a list of boxing’s greatest all-time trilogies without question the heavyweight series between Hall of Famers Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe is near the top. Between 1992 and 1995 they waged three absolutely epic battles, the first two for the heavyweight championship of the world. Holyfield came into their first fight as the undisputed champion but was the underdog to the bigger Bowe. It was a sensational battle and included the unforgettable 10th round, one of the best in heavyweight history, when Holyfield was badly hurt but stormed back to turn the tables on Bowe. The fight was the fight of the year and the 10th round was the round of the year. In the end, Bowe won 117-110, 117-110 and 115-112 to win the undisputed crown. The fight was on Nov. 13, 1992 — 29 years ago on Saturday. The pay-per-view poster for the fight is extremely common. I think they printed a billion of them. However, the site poster sold at the fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas is extremely scarce, but I have this mint one in my collection.

Benavidez-Davis and Benavidez Jr.-Torres photos: Stephanie Trapp/Showtime; Munguia-Rosado photo: Kevin Estrada/Golden Boy; Martinez-Galahad photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

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