Who is David Benavidez best opponent ?

Everyone put in front of him.

 

His last 4 wins against Plant, Andrade, Gvodysk, Morrell were all good wins. They were all good fighters, maybe hype jobs to an extent - but they were genuinely decent fighters. Canelo pretty much ducked Benavidez in broad daylight.

He'd need to beat either Bivol or Beterbiev to be in the top 3 P4P discussion. As of now, Yarde isn't really in the same bracket as those opponents listed above if I'm honest. Yarde is a little bit of big name in the UK at least, but hes only really beaten Lyndon Arthur who was a gatekeeper at best.

Callum Smith would make that list above easily on the other hand...

 

Strange how nobody uses these arguments against other fighters though. Everyone was on beterbiev's nuts for years and until Bivol, his only good win was Gvozdyk. Who did GGG ever beat to prove he was elite? Who did Shakur beat? Valdez?

 

Gvodyk is the best name on his resume Plant was probably the best when they fought. Benavidez has been at 175 2 fights and is an interim champ what do you expect? At 175 theres really no clear hiearchy behind Beterbiev and Bivol. Theres not a 3rd opponent you can clearly put above Morrell or Yarde who hes fighting next. I thought Buatsi was going to be that guy but he got upset.

Right now at 175 theres three groups Beterbiev and Bivol, Beterbiev and Bivol victims and unproven prospects. 175 has a lot of depth but the division is "back heavy". That depth is all unproven prospects its hard to rank. Its going to take a little bit for the dust to settle there. Its why I really wanted Crawford to go up. The timing was perfect for a quick Andre Ward or Calzaghe cameo.

The heart of Benavidezs ranking is Canelo ducking him at 168. This still matters at 175 in 2025. Canelo is an ex 175 champ and won the 2nd most rounds against Bivol after Beterbiev. Because Canelo ducked Benavidez so blatantly people have it in their heads that Benavidez>Canelo even if they never fought. And that got Benavidez into the Bivol/Beterbiev group.

 

You are asking a flawed question because you want to cherry pick 1 win from an entire resume and ignore the rest. David was FIVE quality wins, which in total are better than Berterbiev beating undefeated Gvozdyk.

Dirrell - 2x wbc champion
Plant - former wc
Andrade - 2 division champion
Gvozdyk - former champ
Morrell - 2 divison regular belt champion.

Total losses between all of those fighters = 3. So when you just say 'his best win is plant' do you see how unfair it is?

 

Morrell

 

Prove Gvozdyk was shot because he looked fine to me. Best shape of his career. So what if Andrade moved up? Since when do wins not count because of that? Marquez moved up 2 divisions for Floyd. Canelo moved up for Bivol yet every raves about his win. Your double standards are lol.