Benavidez overwhelms Lemieux with power shots in one-sided knockout victory
Claims interim super middleweight title, calls out division
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David Benavidez was specific about his expectations for his fight with David Lemieux before they met on Saturday night.
“The people are paying good money to see a knockout, and that’s what they’re going to get,” Benavidez said a few days before the fight. “I’m leaving with the title on Saturday night.”
Benavidez nailed it on both counts.
Fighting in front of a hometown crowd for his second fight in a row, Phoenix native Benavidez brutalized Lemieux in a punishing and bloody third-round knockout victory to claim the vacant WBC interim super middleweight title in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader on Showtime at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Benavidez had won the full title twice before but was stripped each time, the first time because of a positive cocaine test and then for a second time when he failed to make weight for a defense. Now, he has an interim 168-pound belt that puts him in position for a possible future mandatory bout against undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez.
Former middleweight titlist Lemieux stood in his way, and while the Montreal slugger was game to the end, Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs), 25, mowed down the much smaller man with ease.
But Lemieux never backed down even in the face of an onslaught of big punches.
Benavidez nearly stopped him in the final seconds of the first round, doing major damage with a left hook that sent Lemieux reeling into the ropes. Benavidez followed up with about 10 unanswered punches. After the fight, referee Harvey Dock said he was about to stop the fight but the bell rang to end the round and he gave Lemieux the rest period to see if he could recover.
Benavidez dropped Lemieux hard to his rear end with a wicked left uppercut early in the second round that sent him under the ring ropes and onto the apron.
Lemieux (43-5, 36 KOs), 33, surprisingly got up quickly, went on the attack and landed a few solid shots. But Benavidez was just too much for him.
By the end of the second round, Lemieux’s face was a bloody mess, and in the third round Benavidez continued to hammer him with clean punches. Dock was looking closely when Lemieux’s corner threw in the towel, causing Dock to wave off the fight at 1 minute, 31 seconds.
“Mike Tyson gave me the name ‘The Mexican Monster', what do you think I’m gonna do,” Benavidez said. “I just feel like I’m the strongest 168-pounder. No one can mess with me.”
Benavidez showed respect for Lemieux’s tremendous toughness.
“Lemieux is a special type of breed,” Benavidez said. “This guy was swinging until the end. I had to be on my P’s and Q’s. He’s a tough (former) champion, so my hat’s off to him. He's the only one with the guts to face me.”
According to CompuBox statistics, Benavidez landed 74 of 151 punches (49 percent) and Lemieux landed only 26 of 109 (24 percent).
“Benavidez is a hell of a fighter,” said Lemieux, whose five-fight winning streak ended. “I congratulate him. After the first round I was OK. He had gotten me with some good shots. I tried to come back, but he's a very good fighter. We're going to talk with my team about what’s next, but tonight was just not my night. All respect to Benavidez. He’s a hell of a fighter.”
Benavidez won’t get an immediate fight with Alvarez. The interim belt was made available because Alvarez stepped up to light heavyweight to challenge Dmitry Bivol for his world title on May 7. He suffered an upset decision loss and is expected to next face either Bivol in a rematch or return to super middleweight and fight rival Gennadiy Golovkin for the third time.
That means Benavidez will need to find some other opponent and he called out the entire division.
“I’m waiting for them to sign the contract,” Benavidez said of former titlist Caleb Plant, secondary titlist David Morrell and middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo. “Them bitches know what's up. I’m right here waiting for them. I'll put myself up against everyone. I guarantee I'm knocking everyone out.
“I can get better everywhere. You can always learn. It only gets better from here. I’m just going to keep working. Facing tough guys like Lemieux just pushes me to keep moving to the next level.”
Gomez dominates Cota
In the co-feature, Cuban junior middleweight Yoelvis Gomez (6-0, 5 KOs), 24, a southpaw based in Las Vegas, went the distance for the first time as a pro but beat up on battle-tested Jorge Cota (30-6, 27 KOs), 34, of Mexico, in a shutout decision win.
Gomez was very effective with body punches en route to winning 100-90 on all three scorecards over Cota, whose previous losses had all come against top opponents, including Sebastian Fundora in his previous fight as well as Jermell Charlo, Jeison Rosario, Erickson Lubin and Marco Antonio Rubio.
Gomez may not have gotten the stoppage but he rocked and hurt Cota throughout the fight.
“I wanted to steal the show, but I know that all Mexican fighters are warriors, and Cota was a warrior tonight and was able to take me the distance,” said Gomez, who was in his first fight with trainer Ismael Salas. “I found out today that you have to be ready to go for all 10 rounds. The knockout didn't come, but I was conditioned and prepared to go the distance.”
He went 10 rounds against Cota after having gone only seven rounds total in his pro career.
“Yoelvis is a strong fighter and he hit me hard on my left rib. I think he hurt me there,” Cota said. “I’ll get some x-rays to see what the damage was. He kept up his consistency and his punching power throughout the entire fight. I was at 50 percent after the rib injury, but credit to him for having fought like he did.”
Nunez edges Fierro
In the opener, featherweight Luis Nunez (17-0, 12 KOs), 22, of the Dominican Republic, edged Jonathan Fierro (13-1, 12 KOs), 18, of Mexico, in a unanimous decision between prospects. Nunez won the entertaining bout 96-94 on all three scorecards for his third victory in a row against an unbeaten opponent.
“I kept my distance, hit him when I had to and built up my equity round by round,” Nunez said through an interpreter. “Now, I’m ready for anybody they want to put in front of me next. Bring them on.”
Fierro was quite displeased with the scoring outcome.
“I felt I beat him,” Fierro said. “The ref was clearly on his side, constantly interrupting the fight. I would have knocked him out, otherwise.”
There were multiple accidental head clashes that left both fighters cut but did not hamper either in any meaningful way.
Photos: Esther Lin/Showtime
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That was a beat down last night, but damn was Lemieux game! It didn’t look like he had a chance in hell but he was going at it like a man possessed. His corner did the right thing I think. He looked tiny in there with Benavidez. Good payday for him I hope. He earned it. 
I like the Canelo - Benavidez fight after the GGG trilogy. Plenty for Canelo to do at 168, he doesn’t need to move up again or rematch Bivol. Also, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, someone cannot be an “undisputed” champion when the sanctioning bodies themselves are disputing that claim by naming additional titleholders in the division. Canelo is *the* world champion at 168 and that will be the case until he loses, whatever happens with the shiny belts in the “interim”.