David Benavidez – Third Time’s The Charm?

Somebody needed to be the one.

Plenty of guys needed to be subsequent up for Saul Alvarez after the tremendous middleweight king accomplished his unification of the division in 2020. It doesn’t matter what he determined to do, we all know now it was going to be a multi-fight package deal.

Among the many hottest decisions for the primary of these fights, there weren’t any unhealthy choices for followers and there weren’t any simple choices for Alvarez. Dmitry Bivol proved it, retaining his gentle heavyweight belt with an upset resolution over the favored Alvarez two weeks in the past.

One of many unchosen begins their return to the ring this week.

Two-time former WBC tremendous middleweight champion David Benavidez (25-0, 22 KO) can all the time surprise if he missed an opportunity to halt Alvarez’s march to unification at tremendous middleweight. He misplaced his first WBC title to a failed take a look at for banned leisure medication. Benavidez misplaced his second on the scales.

Saturday (Showtime, 10 PM EST), Benavidez will attempt to get himself again in line for a 3rd WBC title. In the principle occasion, he’ll face 33-year previous former IBF middleweight titlist David Lemieux (43-4, 36 KO) in what on paper is a puncher’s duel. 

Lemieux enters having gained 5 in a row, three of them by knockout, and is anybody stunned to see Lemieux continues to be solely 33? He seems like he’s been round longer than that.

The identical is true for a Benavidez who continues to be solely 25 years previous. He’s a younger veteran who largely stays what he has been since a press release win over the robust Rogelio Medina in 2017. Benavidez has all of it: measurement, velocity, energy, and a fan pleasant model.

Since shedding his belt on the scales previous to a win over Roamer Angulo in 2020, Benavidez hasn’t had any points. He’s stayed across the tremendous middleweight restrict and run his present knockout streak to 6. The winner this weekend would be the interim WBC titlist within the class.

Interim belts could be a foolish idea however they’ve a sensible actuality. If Alvarez opts to carry on to all his belts at tremendous middleweight, the interim WBC tag is assuredly a compulsory. If he doesn’t, interim’s develop into major titleholders on a regular basis.

In that gentle, a win takes Benavidez both one step nearer to a crack on the man who stays the most important identify in boxing or to his third title reign with out a loss. Possibility one would pay higher up entrance. Possibility two retains large paydays in play for afterward. 

For now, it’s some inevitable comparability buying. Lemieux has misplaced twice since a pair of consecutive losses in 2011. Gennadiy Golovkin and Billy Joe Saunders obtained the job executed in opposition to the Canadian banger. Lemieux has not in any other case been an out for fighters under the championship stage in additional than a decade. Whereas Lemieux isn’t ranked within the high ten by TBRB heading into the weekend, he’s ranked sixth by Ring and seventh by ESPN. 

Benavidez is predicted to win and the way he does it, if he does it, will decide what sort of argument he makes about his tomorrow’s this weekend.

If Alvarez continues to be a pair fights away at finest, it’s been arduous to disregard one other high quality possibility. 31-year previous WBC middleweight titlist Jermall Charlo (32-0, 22 KO) was one other identify linked to Alvarez prospects earlier within the 12 months. Charlo and Benavidez each battle underneath the PBC umbrella and had a viral confrontation at ringside of the Errol Spence-Yordenis Ugas battle. It’s a improbable conflict if it may occur.

Earlier than later can be higher. 

Each males are in search of an enormous battle and so they’d have it in one another. It’s a improbable conflict of measurement and magnificence positive to offer violence for the followers and one the place a winner can be arduous to select.

For Benavidez, it ups the stakes this weekend. He’s near his third probability to make a concrete impression at tremendous middleweight. If a bit of further age means extra self-discipline exterior the ring, Benavidez can transfer two setbacks far into his rearview mirror and open the door to search out out simply how excessive his ceiling can attain.

David Lemieux is the subsequent step to take.

Cliff’s Notes…

If for some motive Alvarez opts for a rematch with Bivol as a substitute of a 3rd battle with Golovkin, it will nonetheless be good to see Jermall Charlo-Golovkin. They’re extensively considered the 2 finest at school at middleweight. Additionally price contemplating is a remark from the now undisputed Jr. middleweight titlist Jermell Charlo. Jermell made point out of making an attempt to unify once more at middleweight. Golovkin nonetheless has two belts. Meals for thought…Craig Richards is an effective take a look at for Joshua Buatsi…So Josh Taylor is staying at Jr. welterweight? Jack Catterall not being a mandated rematch after their slim first battle is an injustice.  

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, a member of the Worldwide Boxing Analysis Group, and a member of the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America.