David Benavidez picks up unanimous decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in debut at light heavyweight

For those wondering what David Benavidez would be like after moving from super middleweight to light heavyweight, the answer was basically the same. Benavidez worked his way to a unanimous decision against former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on the undercard of Gervonta “Tank” Davis vs. Frank Martin to become interim WBC champion.

From the first moments of the fight, Benavidez made his intentions clear: he would get to Gvozdyk’s body early and often. Additionally, Benavidez was ready to stay in front, pushing Gvozdyk back with pressure and volume punches.

Gvozdyk attempted to counter Benavidez’s pressure by throwing a steady stream of strikes, but without any powerful strikes to dissuade Benavidez from his game plan, but the strikes were unable to change the course of the fight.

In round 4, Benavidez was landing effectively with powerful blows to the head in addition to the steady stream of blows to the body. With a more than two-to-one advantage in power punches, Benavidez seemed to need to stay the course and force Gvozdyk to prove he could keep throwing clean punches and figure out a way to turn the tide.

When Gvozdyk succeeded with one or two punches, Benavidez responded with strong flurries that immediately regained momentum and forced Gvozdyk back on the defensive. In order not to get lost in the brilliant offensive display, Benavidez showed fantastic defense, mixing head movements with consistent defenses of Gvozdyk’s punches with his gloves.

After 12 rounds, Benavidez scored the unanimous decision victory 116-112, 117-111, 119-109 to become interim WBC light heavyweight champion.

To Gvozdyk’s credit, he managed Benavidez’s sharp shots well and continued to try to find places to impose his own will on Benavidez. For anyone looking for a reason to criticize Benavidez, the lack of shots that seemed to hurt, or even bother, will stand out with Gvozdyk. And this will always concern a fighter who is moving up in weight. Benavidez also looked uncharacteristically tired down the stretch, possibly due to having moved up to 175 pounds even though he was running low on the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds. These factors led Gvozdyk to claim victory in a few rounds.

Defenders will point to Benavidez’s sharp defense with head movements and use of gloves to deflect punches for most of the fight as reasons for optimism for a light heavyweight career for the two-time super middleweight champion.

In a division controlled by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol, two of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport, the jury remains on Benavidez’s ceiling. However, a win is a win and Benavidez is once again in a position to challenge for a world championship.

“I think it was seven out of 10, honestly,” Benavidez said of his performance, while also citing training camp injuries for his performance. “It was a great fight and a great fighter. We moved on… I think it was because I was trying to understand the light heavyweight division. These guys hit a lot harder.”

Benavidez moved up a division after it became clear that undisputed super middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had little interest in facing him, despite Benavidez being the WBC mandatory challenger. Benavidez’s first title reign ended when he was stripped after testing positive for cocaine, his second ended when he lost weight.

These two situations paved the way for Alvarez to remain undisputed without fighting the best opponent in the category. Despite his successful move to light heavyweight, Benavidez said he is not abandoning his goal of fighting Alvarez.

“We still want to get to 168 for the title,” Benavidez said. “Whether it’s Canelo or they vacate, we would like to win one more time. I want to fight in both categories.”