Benavidez is nothing special in terms of skills

I think bivol beats benavidez if they ever do fight but where’s the shame in that? Everyone else id favour benavidez to get the job done, his boxing “skills” aren’t obvious because he’s not slick or flashy but he’s just so effective

 

Benavidez actually could be a bad match up for Bivol. Bivol is a your turn, my turn fighter. High guard, absorb, move some, now my turn to throw. It's something I don't like about him. What happens against a strong volume puncher that doesn't give you your turn?

May be like a Winky vs Williams (I know Winky was past it)

Though Benavidez isn't a big LHW imo. He's tall but looks soft, and that's why I'm not that sold on him at LHW.

 

A lot of people getting triggered by this post. I don't remember people getting mad when people said Carl Froch wasn't skilled.

 

Agreed pretty much across the board.

 

Limited Morrell had Benavidez paused and hurt from a counter hook. I imagine Bivol could do better.

 

Benavidez has excellent defence, standing and throwing combinations in front of opponents, outlanding significantly. Very few boxers fight that way these days.

Jabby Grabby invented by Floyd is currently used by Haney for example. IMHO not much skill involved in this approach.

Chocolatito fought a beautifully skilled throwback boxing style where he slipped punches in the pocket and countered with crisp combos.

Beterbiev is another underrated boxer, who uses nice footwork and stamina, along with his feared punching power, to get his opponents moving backwards and into positions where he can slip and throw or just throw.

Kovalev had a beautiful long powerful jab that he used to control fights. His straight right complemented the jab allowing him to throw 1, 2s effectively.

A few different skilful styles to ponder, but Benavidez is certainly unique. He wins by landing many more punches than his opponent with underrated defence and flurries of combinations.

 

He clearly isn't as technically skilled as guys like Usyk, Loma, Inoue, Crawford, Bivol etc.

But he's not without skills. He isn't just some face first walk you down type who solely relies on his size and toughness. He varies his attacks nicely, switching levels, to head and body and back again. While he does seem rather flat footed, he does have quite clever foot work, staying on the edge of range and applying smart pressure and forcing leads to create openings. Defensively he could be better but he's far from terrible in terms of defence.

I've been in the "he's overrated" camp in regards to Benavidez and I still do think some people overrate him. He's clearly a good fighter, world class, but I see him on Spence Jr level rather than a Crawford level in terms of P4P ability. Clearly very good but falls short of being genuinely great. But who knows, sometimes fighters are more than their physical and technical attributes, if he has that unwavering will to win and focus that some greats have, that intangible mental strength then he may surpass the limits of his physical and technical abilities.

 

Arguably the best post on the thread.

 

"But in terms of skills he's not anything special, there are numerous more skilled boxers in different divisions."

You can say that about most ATGs in the bigger weight classes.

He has pretty ordinary skillset, and it makes him predictable. That's why Gvozdyk (5 years past his prime), and mediocre Caleb Plant were competitive against Benavidez.

Those are fine Hall of Fame caliber fighters that were Benavidezs size.

"I don't see any chance of Benavidez being competitive vs Opetaia at CW as Opetaia is bigger, more talented, far stronger and hits much harder."

Opetaias also fighting at Cruiser a tweener division. When he fought Breidis a pretty big leap in competition he struggled there. Regardless Opetaias probably the best CW ever to not have success at HW. Opetaia being better than Benavidez isn't a huge indictment. Benavidez is a 175er in an era they aren't expected to fight HWs.


"I also think Bivol would school Benavidez and wins in style."

I disagree.

 

Spence was always a basic come forward pressure fighter. No stand out attributes and sfx. Benavidez is way better than Spence, in terms of attributes and ability. I rated Spence a 7/10 fighter even before Crawford spanked him.

 

When you say glorified version, you mean levels better in every aspect of boxing right? I get it you don't like him but comparing a p4p fighter to a random UK level fighter is lol.

 

I don't really disagree with your assessment of Spence, I always expected Crawford to beat him because Spence was being hyped up to be something he wasn't. But I suspect Benavidez is of a similar level to Spence, both 7/10 or 8/10 level fighters who will struggled against true top P4P level fighters.

I disagree with your view that Benavidez is way better than Spence. Benavidez like Spence before Crawford hasn't faced anyone who is truly at the elite P4P level but when or if he ever does, I suspect you'll see his flaws exposed just like Spence's were against Crawford.

Neither Benavidez or Spence are bad fighters, in fact both are very good but the gap between them and the top 5 level P4P fighters is a big one. Both have skills but do not have the versatility of fighters like Usyk, Crawford and Inoue. They are good at what they do but don't have the ability to adapt to change things up due to the limits of their styles.

 

Spence couldn't put away the Garcia's who moved from light weight, and went life and death with Porter. He also had mediocre speed and quite basic in style. He was exposed well before Crawford. David is much faster, hits harder, far more creative offensively and better defensively. You keep under estimating David. There is a reason why Bivol dropped his belt and suddenly had back surgery when David came knocking.

What is your basis for saying that about David? I would think after destroying Yarde more impressively than Beterbiev who went life and death with him, you would be thinking the opposite.

 

Spence couldn't put away Garcia and that's your reasoning that Benavidez is way better than Spence?

Benavidez couldn't put away a faded Gvozdyk who Beterbiev stopped in 10. Does that alone prove he'd lose to Beterbiev? Obviously not lone examples don't prove much. Styles can make fights and when there's been years between facing the same opponent the results don't always reflect what would happen now.

Benavidez may actually give Bivol a tough fight, you need volume to beat him to keep him behind that guard. But right now based on who they beat Bivol has to be seen as the favourite. Benavidez beating Yarde even in the manner that he did doesn't prove he's better than the likes of Bivol or Beterbiev.

Yarde has always lost when he has stepped up, he's probably a good gatekeeper. Haye KO'ed Chisora who went 12 rounds with Vitali does that mean Haye is better than Vitali?

Year reasoning is flawed. Now maybe I am wrong and Benavidez is better than Bivol and Beterbiev, but right now nothing he has done proves or suggests that. I need to see more from Benavidez for me to put him on that level.