Anthony Yarde has summed up the punching power of David Benavidez after he was handed the fourth defeat of his career by ‘The Mexican Monster’.
Benavidez stopped Yarde in the seventh round of their showdown at the ANB Arena in Riyadh on Saturday night to make the first defence of his WBC world light-heavyweight title, extending his unblemished professional record to 31-0 in the process.
The crushing punching power of ‘The Mexican Monster’ ultimately proved to be too much for the tough Brit, who has now fallen short in all three of his attempts at capturing world honours at 175lbs.
In an interview with Boxing King Media, Yarde appeared to play down the punching power of Benavidez, as he claims he was actually hit harder when he shared the ring with Artur Beterbiev in January 2023.
“I know it sounds crazy, but in this fight against Benavidez, other than when he hit me when I was down, he never hurt me, but Beterbiev hurt me. I think it was the second round, Beterbiev hit me with a left hook at the end of the round and that buzzed me, but with Benavidez, they were overwhelming punches but none were hurting me, even the body shots, they weren’t hurting me.”
Yarde put on a brave display against Beterbiev when they clashed for the unified light-heavyweight titles in London at the beginning of 2023, although he eventually came unstuck when he was stopped in the eighth round of their bout at the Wembley Arena.
The Brit will now be expected to make an important decision on his future in the sport after he was beaten for the fourth time, with reports suggesting that he could draw the curtain on his career.
As for Benavidez, the 28-year-old from Phoenix is expected to make the move up to cruiserweight next after it was revealed that he would be challenging unified WBA and WBO world champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez in May 2026.
