David Benavidez is one of the most feared fighters in the sport.
The former super-middleweight champion has an aggressive come forward style with a relentless work rate that, more often than not, overwhelms his opponents. Although not known for his one punch knockout power, the 27-year-old has amassed an impressive 24 stoppages in his 29 fights, mainly due to his high output.
Nicknamed by Mike Tyson as ‘The Mexican Monster’, Benavidez has long been chasing a world title shot against current three belt holder at 168, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. He was in the WBC mandatory position for Canelo, but his rival never showed any real interest in wanting to make the fight, putting a price tag of $200m on it, forcing Benavidez to move up to light-heavyweight to chase gold there.
One former super-middleweight champion who was never one to turn down a fight says Benavidez would have been the ‘perfect’ opponent for him.
Speaking to ‘The Parry’, former three-weight world champion, James Toney, said he ‘loves’ Benavidez but the match-up would have been ‘lights out’.
“I love Benavidez but you know what? Lights out baby! He’s perfectly made for me. If he wants to come and attack then I’m going to attack to, if he’s going to punch then I’m going to punch. Fighters these days wait for people to do things, if he’s going to punch then I’m going to punch, that’s exactly how I fought,”
Toney won the IBF super-middleweight title against Iran Barkley in 1993 and defended it three times before coming up against generational great, Roy Jones Jr. Jones became the first man to put Toney on the canvas and cruised to a wide unanimous decision.
