does anyone think Benavidez lack of power will hurt him at cruiserweight? Why make the move when he could potentially make a bucket load of money vs Beterbiev or Bivol?
Yeah but Zurdo isn't a big puncher and combination upon combination will still have its effects. He's gonna beat Ramirez up, Joe Smith Jr gave him all he could handle
i would like to see him fight both of those guys, but please remind me of the lack of power at cruiserweight?
It's risk v reward Bivol could box circles around him Beterbiev could put him in hospital, even at this age, because of the power he posesses. Against Zurdo he could get a UD and palm himself as some type of legend and make himself more marketable
That was through tremendous accumulation of punches. The dude is a high volume puncher but his power is decent by 175 standards. Now think of the jump from 175 to 200. At light heavy, he is facing guys who are rehydrating to 185-190 lbs. At cruiser, he will be fighting guys re-hydrating up to 210 lbs. If his power is average or slightly above average at 175, how much damage can he do at cruiser vs guys 20-25 lbs heavier than what he is facing at light-heavyweight? The jump from light heavy to cruiser is the biggest weight jump in boxing below heavyweight. Benavidez might do ok vs Zurdo but he would get smoked vs Opetaia.
Although Benavidez doesn't have that knockout punch, he has good power, I see only one outcome in the upcoming fight, and that is that Zurdo will suffer a beating before the referee stops the fight...
Cruiserweight is a tweener division. Absent maybe the top 1-2 fighters in the division his CW opponents won't be as good as LHW. Jai is about to leave for HW and both Ramirez and a younger Badou Jack lost at LHW. Mikaelian who just beat Jack previously lost to him when he was 41. Benavidez opponents might be bigger but someone bigger then Benavidez whose at his level is going to be a HW. After Ramirez Benavidez will relax into a long title reign and thats probably the intention here. A bunch of defenses without the real risk of losing. Maybe late in his career when his legacy is secure he'll try his luck at HW. Its disappointing hes doing this I was really looking forward to his LHW campaign.
Well they have also fought once a year since their first fight, only fight each other, and its looking like they will have a rubber match + they both could reasonably retire soon…
With Opetaia moving on CW is an open book. I fully expect Benavidez to smack up the assortment of cowards that Opetaia is leaving behind for him.
Zurdo got destroyed by Bivol, do the maths. This is an easy Benavidez win. Keeping Jai out of the picture who would damage both of these guys, particularly Zurdo.
