Is David Benavidez overrated?

Let's just examine his last six fights:

- Plant UD12

On paper this is worse than small SMW Canelo's TKO11 but there are caveats: Plant got away with an absurd amount of holding in the last 6 or 7 rounds against Benevidez, I suspect he'd have been stopped otherwise. DB may have been struggling with the SMW weight cut by this point, though his next fight was also at SMW so it's unlikely he was dying on the scales. Plant had more success than he "should" have had; he was 4-1 or 5-0 up after 5 rounds, and went on to perform poorly in his next two fights against journeymen, getting dropped in one and losing a SD respectively.

- Andrade RTD6

Impressive result but Andrade was a blown up 154 pounder and he never fought again.

- Gvozdyk UD12

Significantly less impressive performance against a significantly worse version of Gvozdyk than the version Beterbiev fought. To make matters worse, Kalajdzic (who Beterbiev had previously crushed in 5 largely one-sided rounds) brutally KO'd Gvozdyk in a 7 round war, 20 months post-Benevidez.

- Morrell UD12

Benedivez went 115-111 in a war against a guy who was later wiped out by a "British level non-puncher" in an upset of the year candidate. To make matters worse, Morrell arguably received gift decisions against Khataev and the aformentioned Kalajdzic. This solidifes my conviction that Morrell wouldn't have made the 2nd half of the fight against a prime Beterbiev, perhaps not even the 2nd third of the fight.

- Yarde TKO7

Very dominant win but Yarde had already been stopped by a faded Kovalev and Beterbiev, as well as only going 2-1 with 1 KO against "British level" Arthur. 34 year old Yarde hasn't fought since and had gone the distance in his previous two fights, so he was probably on the slide. I suspect Yarde is the hardest puncher Benevidez has fought but even he doesn't have proven stopping power above the level of Arthur (and even then it's inconsistent).

- Ramirez KO6

Stunning win but Ramirez is on the cusp of 35 and had been a pro since he was 18, with a wearing 49 fight pro career and 19 fights going the distance. His five previous fights had all been varying degrees of tough 190/200 lbs bouts. And while Ramirez doesn't look small at cruiser (he's bigger than Benevidez), he had previously been fighting at 168 as a mature 27 year old man.


Beterbiev is 41 but Benevidez didn't seem to have any confidence of beating a prime version from an old interview I recall. He seems to like the Bivol fight more but apparently prefers it at a 190 lbs catchweight and only in America, which doesn't suggest strong confidence. I don't think cruiserweight champion Opetaia has been seriously considered, and being signed to Dana White makes it difficult. But without these fights, we simply don't know whether Benevidez is elite or not. I'm inclined to believe he is just short of that level. Being ducked by a much smaller Canelo (who himself was fodder for the elite at 175) isn't evidence that Benevidez is a top P4P fighter.

 

He's certainly good but it's clever matchmaking thus far.

 

Usyk, easily. None of Benevidez's opponents are really "top".

Beterbiev crushed all opposition up to his first elite win, which was prime lineal champion Gvozdyk, just over 6 years into his pro career.

Inoue also destroyed everyone up to his first elite win, which was former P4P ranked Donaire 7 years in.