David Benavidez v Alexis Angulo

[Master]

Unbeaten Benavidez defends super middleweight crown

Undefeated American David Benavidez defends his World Boxing Council super middleweight world title for the third time on Saturday against Colombia's Alexis Angulo.

Benavidez, 22-0 with 19 knockouts, returns to action in the feature bout at Uncasville, Connecticut, some 11 months after stopping countryman Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round.

"I'm very eager to get back in the ring and give the fans a great fight," Benavidez said. "Training camp has been amazing.

"Fortunately, my dad opened his own gym just before the pandemic, so we've had private training and been able to safely bring in sparring partners to help me work."

In 2017, Benavidez became the youngest champion in super middleweight history at age 20 by beating Ronald Gavril in a split decision for the vacant crown, then kept it by winning a unanimous decision over the Romanian in a 2018 rematch.

Angulo, who at 36 gives away 13 years to his opponent, is 26-1 with 22 knockouts. He has three wins since suffering his lone loss in his only prior world title fight, losing a unanimous decision to unbeaten Mexican Gilberto Ramirez in 2018 for the World Boxing Organization crown.

"I'm ready for anything that happens," Angulo said. "Benavidez is a strong champion, but my style will be too much for him and I will have my hand raised on fight night."

Angulo says he has been helped by the COVID-19 shutdown of boxing.



"It has helped me tremendously," the South American said. "I've been able to prepare better, and not just physically, but also spiritually and emotionally. I'm more prepared than I've ever been and this is really the best thing that could have happened to me.

"I know the coronavirus has affected many people negatively, but for me it has been the total opposite. It has just given me a lot more time to train."

Benavidez is wary of his veteran rival but still confident he can find a way to knock him out.

"I'm ready for whatever he brings to the ring. I just have to be patient," Benavidez said. "I can't just try to knock him out and leave myself open.

"I'm facing a very tricky and rugged fighter, so I'm taking him very seriously. I feel like I can take advantage of some openings in his defense and look for the knockout like I do every fight."

https://sports.yahoo.com/unbeaten-be...31418308.html?

[Master]

David Benavidez, the WBC super middleweight champion, sort of snorted, and then totally let Caleb Plant, a fellow world champion and a future opponent, have it.

He said he hopes to fight Plant soon, and when asked if he had spoken to Plant, the IBF champion, he sneered.

“I don’t talk to that guy about s---,” said Benavidez, who is building a case for himself as the world’s best 168-pounder. “I can’t stand his fake persona. I don’t like people like him. I don’t like the way he acts. He thinks he’s the cream of the crop and that nobody can touch him. He thinks he’s the second coming of [Floyd] Mayweather or something.”

He laughed at his own line and then paused, looking for the right way to say it.

“We’ve had words and we’ve exchanged some words,” he said. “There’s bad blood between us, for sure. I don’t care what he says or what he thinks, and I’m not going to talk to him until we have a press conference and we’re about to fight. But I think it’s going to be a good fight. Really, we have the beginnings of a great fight here. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him and we each believe we’re the best.”

The Plant fight is down the road for a bit. Next on his hit list is Roamer Alexis Angulo, whom he’ll fight on Saturday (9 p.m. ET, Showtime) at Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.

The super middleweight division is loaded with talent — Benavidez, Plant, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders and a guy named Saul Alvarez all hold titles there — and the fight with Angulo isn’t one that would have been on anybody’s list as a must-make.

But Benavidez is a fighter at his core, literally born into the sport. His older brother, Jose, is a welterweight contender who fought pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford for the belt, and his father, Jose Sr., is a trainer.

He’s not on any pound-for-pound lists yet, but given the path he’s on, that seems just a matter of time. He’s big, he’s rangy, he can move well and he can punch.

He’s also become somewhat of a vicious body puncher. Elite body punchers are always among the most feared guys in the sport, and Benavidez credits his success with both a commitment to it as well as learning the proper technique.

“I’ve been going to the body for as long as I’ve been fighting,” Benavidez said. “My Dad taught me the right way to throw body shots. They’re hard to hit, and if you don’t do it right, you can leave yourself open for counters. You really have to set it up properly, but if you do, there is no better punch.

“You have to set it up with a jab or an uppercut. If you think of Julio Cesar Chavez, he was one of the best at it. He’d tap the head a few times and then go to the body. He wouldn’t just start off at the body. It was more effective that way. Head shots are easy, but body shots are harder and riskier, but they also have that huge payoff if you do them right.”

He said he thinks the bout Saturday with Angulo would “be an amazing fight, honestly,” and insisted there is no chance of a letdown. He watched as his brother, who was 27-0 at the time, was beaten and stopped by Terence Crawford in 2018.

That fight hurt David deeply and he said it made him determined to never feel like he did after the bout again.

“It hurt me, it hurt everyone with us,” he said. “I felt like I took the loss. We all did. It was something I’d never felt before, and I said to myself that I never wanted to feel that way again. I learned from what happened to him and I think it’s made me better.”

In a way, he’s the future even though he is already a world champion. And while he’s got a big frame, he plans to stick around at super middleweight to try to knock off all of the big names before he thinks of a move to 175 pounds.

So if things go the way he hopes, there is going to be a lot of big fights in his future.

“There are so many names out there and I want to fight every one of them,” he said. “This is a great division to be in right now and I want to prove that I am the best of all of them. There is only one way to do that, and I’m going to do whatever I can to fight all of those guys to make my point.”

[powerpuncher]

Looks like Benavidez missed weight by 2.8 pounds. They used the pandemic as an excuse. I’m not saying that’s not a semi legitimate excuse because there are some complications, but why not ask for a catch weight in his first fight? When you are way bigger than your weight class you should understand that you probably won’t make the weight unless you have a full, uninterrupted training camp. It’s just unprofessional.

[Spicoli]

I have a pet peeve and it's young talent heavy fighters talking up all the big opponents only to go fail at the scales and blow the contracted weight. No excuse for it especially after Benavidez is fresh off suspension in another forfeiture of his trinkets. Really disappointing and while he may not be a complete Chavez Jr doppelganger it's apparent we'll see him making his unofficial-official Lt hvy debut tomorrow night.

[Spicoli]

Otto Wallin v Travis Kaufman starts off. Maybe I'm desperate, might be interesting.

[Spicoli]

Ok well not so much but Wallin breaking him down a bit. Arm of Kaufman looks jacked and ref has him looked at. Ok so fight over Wallin tko. Real shame Benavidez didn't get him professional shape tonight this Angulo isn't without some ability.

[Spicoli]

Pretty workmanlike from Benavidez into the 5th. Showing some patience, picking spots early but also some defensive lapses backing to ropes. Guy has to be close to 180 right now judging by the extra flesh suit he's wearing. Angulo feeling this work though..

[Spicoli]

They can go ahead and stop this Angulo is eating shots like a stoner inhales Funyans. Beat up now. Corner helps him to opt out between rounds, good call.

[SlimTrae]

IS 290-of-703 punches vs 51-of-400 punches close to accurate? Whew, David that precise or was Angulo's defense that porous?

[TIC]

floyd brought the judges for rolando's win. they stole it from jackson