On to Canelo Alvarez?
David Benavidez demonstrated on Saturday why many believe he’s the biggest threat to the undisputed 168-pound champion, pounding and then stopping Kyrone Davis in seven rounds at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Benavidez’s hometown.
Davis, who took the fight on two weeks’ notice, was brave and determined but, in the end, he couldn’t stand up to the relentless punishment Benavidez dished out.
The former two-time super middleweight titleholder stalked the elusive Davis from the beginning, jabbing and targeting both head and body with ill-intended power shots. And more and more of them landed as the fight went on.
Davis showed uncommon courage, absorbing a terrible beating yet fighting back until the end. However, by the end of Round 5, his trainer, Breadman Edwards, threatened to stop the fight if he didn’t show him more. And after Round 6 Edwards said he’d give him one more round.
All he could give Davis was 48 more seconds. That’s when Edwards threw in the towel, saving his fighter from taking undue punishment.
Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) gave Davis (16-3-1, 6 KOs) credit for his toughness but, he said, the result was inevitable.
“I had so much condition that I’m going to keep going until he eventually stops,” Benavidez said. “That’s what eventually happens; they tend to give up. I have that one-punch knockout power. I’m going to be ready to you every single round.”
Of course, Alvarez, coming off his sensational knockout of Caleb Plant last Saturday, can fight whomever he wants. No one has more leverage in boxing.
However, he likes challenges. And he has said more than once that Benavidez his near the top of his lists of prospective opponents.
The 24-year-old certainly didn’t hurt his chances of meeting the Mexican superstar on Saturday night. It’s sensational performances like the one he turned in that build interest future fights.
He was asked in the ring what might come next for him.
“I think that’s an easy question,” said Benavidez, who then turned to his hometown fans. “I think everybody wants to see me against Canelo, right? … They keep putting these contenders in front of me. My last fight (an 11th-round knockout of Ronald Ellis) was a WBC title eliminator. That’s why I’m here holding my belts. They need to give me the opportunity.
“I’ll go through anybody, whoever they want me to go through.”