David Benavidez made his big time 175 debut and does not disappoint. Benavidez won a wide decision over former 175 champ and Olympic bronze medallist Oleksandr Gvozdyk. Going into this fight there was a lot of intrigue about Benavidez’s move to 175 and how he would handle his toughest test. There were also rumblings of how much Gvozdyk had left and if he’d be able to score the upset.
The Build Up
David Benavidez for a while now has been suffering from his own success. What I mean by this is at 168 Benavidez has looked so good it has led to him being avoided. In particular undisputed king at 168 Canelo Alvarez has been avoiding Benavidez like the plague and for good reason. Benavidez is a bull dozer who utilises his size, pressure, and volume to overwhelm his opponents looking better with each fight. In the meantime Canelo has only been getting older and experiencing diminishing returns.
So it’s no surprise that despite Benavidez being the clear number 1 at 168 that Canelo continues to ignore him. Benavidez unwilling to waste his career focusing on Canelo moved on by deciding to try his hand at 175. Benavidez has always been a big super middleweight so it was always a matter of time until he moved up. And his opponent was the often underrated Oleksandr Gvozdyk. In his prime Gvozdyk was a force to be reckoned with and even gave Artur Beterbiev a run for his money until eventually being stopped. After the Beterbiev loss in 2019 Gvozdyk took a hiatus from boxing then returning in 2023 with 3 wins.
The veteran although past his best did show promise in his return and looked to reclaim his spot at the top of the division. Benavidez looked to start his campaign at 175 impressively to put the division on notice.
Benavidez vs Gvozdyk
The fight itself did see Benavidez make his mark at 175. Although Benavidez failed to stop Gvozdyk he did have an impressive performance. For the first 7 rounds Benavidez looked the best we had ever seen him making great use of his offensive talents. Benavidez really showed his youth, explosiveness, power, combinations, bodywork and really just showed levels.
However, as the fight went on Benavidez gradually began to fatigue more and more. As a result he began neglecting things that were causing him success like the bodywork which could have potentially given him a stoppage. As a result Gvozdyk was able to nab a few rounds in the 2nd half of the fight purely based off of activity. Perhaps it was the new weight and over exertion in the first half but Benavidez showed stamina issues. and against fighters like Beterbiev and Bivol that could cost him.
Fortunately Benavidez had managed to establish such a wide lead in the first half that losing a few rounds later on didn’t really matter. Overall, the performance from Benavidez was very good it showed he is a force to be reckoned with at 175. However, it did show some flaws namely Benavidez’s stamina at 175. If he was in in against against a better fighter they may have been able to capitalise. But, this is an issue that can be fixed by better pacing himself. As Benavidez gets more used to the weight class stamina management will come with it.
What’s Next For Benavidez
With this win Benavidez has thrown his hat in with the big boys of 175 and given himself options. The Canelo fight will always be there for Benavidez he has proven he is Canelo’s toughest challenge at 168. However, with Canelo content to avoid him that fight likely won’t happen and Benavidez now he’s moved to 175 likely stays there. Canelo could move up to fight Benavidez at 175 but that seems even less likely than the fight happening at 168.
So Benavidez will likely make it his mission to pursue the titles at 175 currently held by Beterbiev and Bivol. Those 2 will likely have their undisputed showdown late this year or early next year so are currently tied up. In the meantime other contenders Benavidez can fight are limited as 175 is a pretty thin division. The Morrell fight would make sense if Morrell pulls through against his opponent on the Crawford card. This would give Benavidez a high ranking with the WBA adding to the WBC ranking achieved by beating Gvozdyk.
He could fight some lesser comp like Anthony Yarde etc who although is highly ranked by the bodies is limited. But again Benavidez likely wipes the floor with them. However, they work as a way for Benavidez to keep busy and get used to 175 while improving his ranking.
It will be intriguing to see where Benavidez can go from here and if he can accomplish his championship aspirations at 175. Let us know how you think Benavidez performed? and if Benavidez will continue to have success at 175? Beating Beterbiev and Bivol is no easy task but Benavidez could be the man to do it.
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
