Notebook: Benavidez aims to upset Garcia: 'I know what I’m capable of'

Sky Sports (not DAZN) will have Usyk-Joshua II rights in the U.K.; BetUS show; Quick hits; Show and tell

Jul 30, 2022

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When Jose Benavidez Jr. turned pro in 2010, he did so as a teenage prodigy with a 120-5 amateur record and 11 national titles.

He won a 2009 National Golden Gloves title at 16 — the youngest to ever do so — and was considered a shoe-in for a spot on the 2012 U.S. Olympic team had he remained amateur. But wanted to go pro and was so highly thought of that he was granted a special waiver by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to have his professional debut at age 17 instead of the typical 18.

But that was then and this is now.

Benavidez never lived up to the massive hype and then saw his life and career turned upside down when he was shot in the leg while out for a walk one morning in August 2016 in a case that remains unsolved. He did not fight for 19 months and when he did return the leg was clearly an issue.

He was still with Top Rank then and after two wins on the comeback trail — and with Top Rank having nobody else of remote note at welterweight to offer to WBO titlist Terence Crawford — the company gave Benavidez a title shot in October 2018.

Benavidez showed tremendous toughness but he was outclassed and got knocked out in the 12th round for his first defeat.

A nearly three-year layoff followed until he returned with Premier Boxing Champions, which also works with younger brother and undefeated two-time super middleweight titlist David Benavidez, and looked dreadful in a generous 10-round draw with journeyman Francisco Torres in a November middleweight bout.

Now, Benavidez returns as a big-time underdog against former welterweight and unified junior welterweight titlist Danny Garcia, who is coming off a 19-month layoff and moving up to junior middleweight for the 12-rounder that will headline a PBC tripleheader on Saturday (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

Benavidez claims that his leg is fine, as if he would say anything otherwise.

“I’m glad that Danny is confident. He’s going to find out on Saturday that 154 pounds isn’t for him,” Benavidez said. “I fought Terence Crawford on one leg and gave him a fight. I know what I’m capable of and I’m going to fight like that. … My leg feels great.”

Jose Benavidez Sr., his son’s trainer, realizes it’s a difficult assignment and a must-win fight.

“This is a great opportunity for Jose to show his talent. He has to look impressive in order to go to the next level,” Benavidez Sr. said. “I want to thank team Garcia for the opportunity. We’re facing a monster. But that just motivated us even more. When Jose beats Danny Garcia, he’ll be at the top and open up for bigger opportunities. Jose has matured a lot and he’s super motivated.”

‘I’m glad that Danny is confident. He’s going to find out on Saturday that 154 pounds isn’t for him.’ — Jose Benavidez Jr.

Benavidez (27-1-1, 18 KOs), 30, of Phoenix, has portrayed immense confidence going into the fight, just as he did when he squared off with Crawford.

“I’m ready. I feel strong and I’m happy to be here. It’s exciting to be fighting in this big arena,” he said. “I’m ready to show the world that I’m the one at 154 pounds. I’m the bigger guy at this weight. I’m confident, I’m strong and I’m ready. This is a new and improved me. Nobody is going to touch me.

“I don’t have to look impressive. I’m going to show what I am. I’m a beast. I know where my talent is and I’m going to make it look easy. I respect Danny Garcia, but his dad (and trainer Angel Garcia) talks too much.”

While Danny Garcia (36-3, 21 KOs), 34, of Philadelphia, rarely has anything bad to say about his opponents, Angel Garcia is another story. He always plays the bad cop role and likes to rag on his son’s opponents. It has been no different with Benavidez.

“Jose Benavidez Jr. is not a skillful fighter,” Angel Garcia said. “He can’t fight going backwards. He doesn’t have any skill. He doesn’t dip. He doesn’t slip. He doesn’t duck hits. He just comes forward, I guess. I don’t know what they’re teaching him. I teach perfection. I don’t teach just going in and getting beat up.”

Benavidez claimed he is not paying any attention to Angel Garcia’s steady stream of insults.

“They can think what they want to think. I know what I’m capable of and I’m going to prove it on Saturday,” he said. “I’m only focused on my work ethic and I’ve been training hard for this fight. To me, the talk is just a game. I respect everyone. I’m more mature now.

“I’ve grown and I only care about what I’m going to do on Saturday. This is going to be the end of the ‘Danny Garcia Show.’”

Also on the broadcast are two 10-round fights:

Popular Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs), 33, of Brooklyn, will try to bounce back from back-to-back knockout loses to Robert Helenius, against Ali Eren Demirezen (16-1, 12 KOs), 32, a 2016 Turkish Olympian, in the co-feature.
Fast-rising junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (15-0, 15 KOs), 25, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Capitol Heights, Maryland, will face former junior lightweight and lightweight titlist Rances Barthelemy (29-1-1, 15 KOs), 36, a Cuba native fighting out of Las Vegas.

Joshua still on Sky Sports

Sky Sports will have broadcast rights in the United Kingdom to the unified heavyweight title rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and former two-time titlist Anthony Joshua when they meet Aug. 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The fight will air on Sky Box Office, Sky’s pay-per-view platform.

“Sky Sports viewers have enjoyed a long history with AJ, watching his every fight since he turned professional in 2013,” Adam Smith, the head of boxing development for Sky Sports, said. “We also know Oleksandr Usyk very well, having had the last four of the Ukrainian's fights exclusively live on Sky Sports. This rematch is a massive occasion with everything on the line and so many questions to be answered. We can't wait to bring it to boxing fans in the UK and Ireland in true Sky Sports fashion with all the build-up it deserves.”

The announcement this week came as a surprise to many because it was only about six weeks ago that DAZN and Joshua, who had fought every one of his pro fights on a Sky Sports platform and become a mega pay-per-view star before the deal expired with his loss to Usyk last September, announced they had finalized a multi-fight deal for Joshua’s fights to be on DAZN and for him to also become “a global brand ambassador as well as a special advisor to, and shareholder” in DAZN.

What DAZN embarrassingly failed to mention in its announcement was that despite the deal, it was never certain that Usyk-Joshua II would be on the streaming service (via pay-per-view) in the U.K. — where England’s Joshua means the most — and there was a good chance it would be on Sky.

When Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, closed the deal for the fight to be in Saudi Arabia the Saudi group putting up tens of millions of dollars to bring the fight to Jeddah negotiated that it would own worldwide broadcast rights, not Matchroom. If Hearn had the rights he would have put the fight on DAZN, which became Matchroom Boxing’s exclusive broadcaster after its long-term Sky deal expired last summer.

DAZN and Sky were in a fierce bidding war for the rights but the Saudi group ultimately accepted the Sky offer, keeping Joshua on his longtime broadcaster for one more fight before his DAZN deal commences — a deal which would lose tremendous value to DAZN if Joshua loses to Usyk again.

DAZN is expected to have the rights to the fight in the United States and other countries but those deals have not yet been announced.

BetUS Boxing Show

If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked all three fights on the PBC card on Showtime: junior middleweight Danny Garcia vs. Jose Benavidez Jr., heavyweight Adam Kownacki vs. Ali Eren Demirezen and junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell vs. Rances Barthelemy. We also took viewer comments and questions and had fun! Check it out here:

Quick hits

Adam Kownacki (left) vs. Ali Eren Demirezen

Weights from Brooklyn, New York, for Saturday’s PBC card on Showtime: Danny Garcia 152.75 pounds, Jose Benavidez Jr. 153.75; Adam Kownacki 251.25, Ali Eren Demirezen 262.75; Gary Antuanne Russell 137.25, Rances Barthelemy 139.5; Sergiy Derevyanchenko 159.5, Joshua Conley 160; Vito Mielnicki Jr. 153.75, Jimmy Williams 153; LeShawn Rodriguez 154.25, Ismael Villareal 153.75; Ricky Lopez 129.5, Joe Perez 129.5; Junior Younan 168.5, Dauren Yeleussinov 166; Miguel Roman 121.75, Marcus Redd 120.5; Dwyke Flemmings Jr. 152, Angelo Thompson 153.5.

Matchroom Boxing rounded out the Canelo Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III undercard on Sept. 17 (DAZN PPV) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with three preliminary bouts announced on Friday. Lightweight Marc Castro (7-0, 5 KOs), junior welterweight Aaron Aponte (6-0, 2 KOs) and bantamweight Anthony Herrera (2-0-1, 2 KOs) will all be in action. Castro, 22, of Fresno, California, who will appear on his fifth Alvarez undercard, will have his first scheduled eight-rounder against Kevin Montiel Mendoza (6-1-2 3 KOs), 23, of Mexico. Aponte, 21, of Hialeah, Florida, will face the Alvarez-promoted Fernando Molina (8-0, 3 KOs), 20, of Mexico, in the first eight-rounder for both. Herrera, 21, of Los Angeles, will face Delvin McKinley (4-3-1, 4 KOs), 26, of New Orleans, in a six-rounder.

Subscribe to DAZN

Former WBO junior lightweight titlist Masayuki Ito (27-4-1, 15 KOs), 31, of Japan, announced his retirement on Thursday. Ito traveled to Kissimmee, Florida, in 2018 and outpointed Christopher Diaz to win the vacant 130-pound belt and made one successful defense in Japan before returning to Kissimmee, where he lost a decision and the title to Jamel Herring in May 2019. Ito is 2-2 since and lost his last fight, an 11th-round technical decision to Shuichiro Yoshino on April 9.

Show and tell

The prime Mike Tyson was storming through the heavyweight division, having blitzed Trevor Berbick by highlight-reel second-round knockout to win the WBC title and become the youngest heavyweight champion at age 20. In his next fight Tyson didn’t score a knockout but took the WBA belt by near-shutout decision over James “Bonecrusher” Smith. Then Tyson retained the two belts by one-sided sixth-round knockout of former titlist Pinklon Thomas. That set the stage for Tyson’s three-belt undisputed championship fight with IBF titlist Tony Tucker as HBO’s 16-month-long, $22 million heavyweight unification tournament came to end, although Tyson was supposed to face Michael Spinks. However, he got stripped of the IBF title when he took a more lucrative fight with Gerry Cooney outside of the tournament. Tucker wound up winning the vacant belt against Buster Douglas on the Tyson-Thomas undercard.

Anyway, Tyson was 30-0 with 27 KOs and Tucker was 34-0 with 29 KOs, making it one of the rare times two undefeated heavyweight titleholders squared off. Tyson rolled to a lopsided decision in a dud of a fight to become the undisputed champion, although he would not become the lineal champion until destroying Spinks four fights later. Tyson-Tucker took place at the Las Vegas Hilton on Aug. 1, 1987 — 35 years ago on Monday. Here is a very scarce Lite Beer poster from the fight in my collection.

Benavidez and Kownacki-Demirezen photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime; Usyk-Joshua photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing

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