How good is David Benavidez and how far will his boxing career go?

Benavidez's career has been penalized for being in the wrong weight divisions at the wrong time.
SMW was monopolized by Canelo, who clearly ducked Benavidez.
LHW has been dominated by the Bivol and Beterbiev, forcing Benavidez to take risky non-title fights, like Morrell, who can bang. The KD against Morrell was questionable, IMO.
He finally got his first belt against a 2-loss Yarde after Bivol was stripped.
Where does this guy go from here and how far/heavy can he go?
Part of me think he could be one of the most talented fighters out there, a true boogeyman, who is also one of the most avoided.
He's talked of going up to cruiserweight to fight Zurdo, and coming back to LHW and fighting Bivol (going down is never an easy task).
He's not talked about enough, understandably, because he's been avoided. That being said, watching his fights, he could be one of the most talented active fighters. I think he's good enough to unify LHW and not sure about CW. Being 6'2 with a 74" reach, I don't think he can go to HW.
Looking forward to seeing how far his career goes and his first mega fight.

 

I hate the Zurdo fight. If he’s going to stay at cruiser I’m all for it, but why take the risk when historically going down and weight by that much ends horribly. Donaire was an outlier but also didn’t go back down 25 pounds.

 

I think it's a case of "I'm in my physical prime and want a big fight" syndrome. I don't blame him.

 

I think he will make it far enough where he will be dethroned someone not really on the radar today. I think he gets through the Ramirez, Bivol, Beterbiev run he has planned.

I am very happy with the decision to go back to 175. Theres more talent at 175 then at Cruiser. Even if he was capable of going to HW the timing is just not right.

I feel Benavidez has gotten the Harry Wills effect where everyone knew him as the guy Canelo was scared of.

 

He’ll likely beat Zurdo but I doubt be beats Bivol. He doesn’t beat Opetaia but could beat Beterbiev, who is on the decline.

I like Benavidez. He’s fun to watch and is very talented but these fights are a huge step up for him.

 

I agree on Opetaia but am not sure about Bivol. Let's just hope it happens.

 

I will consult my crystal ball unless the questions were rhetorical?

 

David is special. The critics are slowly realizing. Not a big fan of the cruiserweight move, but he has no choice when he can't get big fights at 175. Hopefully he goes back down, he is not a true cruiserweight. Those guys cut from 230lbs and are jacked, David is still skinny fat.

 

Once he goes to cruiser I doubt very much he goes back to light heavy there is way too much weight to cut. He has ducked Bivol IMO. Agree he should beat Zurdo but lets see if he has the bottle to get in there with Opetaia.

 

I could honestly see him beating Zurdo and becoming undisputed at CW however that isn’t really that prestigious given the thinness of the division.

 

If he beats Zurdo and then beats Opetaia to become CW champion, that will be quite something.

 

David's main assets have been his cutting, slicing, rapid combination shots, but as he continues moving up in weight, these are less effective elements of his game. I think Bivol outboxes him very easily. David is fantastic offensively, but he is so easy to hit. I think Bivol times him all night, and I think Beterbiev could still knock him out, even if he is on the decline. Jai is just too big and too good, probably stops Benavidez.

 

It still amazes me that people parrot the same 'David is easy to hit' narrative like sheep when the exact opposite is true. He is very hard to hit clean. If you are blind and can't see it in the ring, check out compubox. He is top 5 for opponents lowest power punch connect %, and top 3 in plus minus. None of that would be possible if a fighter was easy to hit.

 

He claims hes just going up to CW for this one fight.

 

Easy to say, but many people have been able to pull that off before?