David Benavidez

David Benavidez, born December 17, 1996, in Phoenix, Arizona, to a Mexican father and an Ecuadorian-Dominican mother, was destined to have a life steeped in boxing. His older brother, José Benavidez Jr., is also a professional boxer, with both siblings trained by their father from an early age. At just three years old, David Benavidez began his boxing journey, achieving an unblemished amateur record of 15–​1​. His discipline issues and struggle with dieting, causing his weight to rise to 250 pounds at 15, did not deter him from his path​​. Making his professional debut at 16, his powerful strikes led him to clinch his first world title, the WBC super middleweight belt, in a riveting bout against Ronald Gavril in 2017.

Benavidez’s dominance in the ring was unrelenting. He won the rematch against Ronald Gavril in 2018, ensuring a successful defense of his title. After a brief setback due to personal issues that saw him stripped of his title, Benavidez reclaimed his WBC super middleweight title in 2019 by defeating Anthony Dirrell. He continued to defend his title successfully, showcasing his trademark power and skill against opponents like Alexis Angulo in 2020, Kyrone Davis in 2021, and David Lemieux in 2022.

In 2023, Benavidez won a bout against Caleb Plant with an impressive record of 26-0 and an 88% knockout rate. This was a first-time defense of his interim WBC super middleweight belt. Concerning the honors, Benavidez’s noteworthy achievements include being the youngest super middleweight title holder in history, a record he set at 21 years of age. He was also ranked second by The Ring and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board.

David Benavidez can be summed up into 2 of his greatest strengths. Pressure and combination punching. Benavidez is one of the most devastating combination punchers in the sport because of his ability to quickly create openings with one punch, recognize the opening, and shoot the next punch in the combination on the new opening instantaneously. He has many combination tricks up his sleeve such as throwing punches down the middle to tighten his opponent’s guard then loop the next punches around the tightened guard, then punch up the middle again. He will also throw punches to remove the guard out of the way, then punch in the new opening. This combination of punching goes hand in hand with his pressure game, as few fighters will be willing to stand in range with him and exchange punches.