David Benavidez says he’s not going to go easy on the joking, friendly Demetrius Andrade on November 25th, and he’s predicting that he won’t make it the full twelve rounds against him in their fight for the WBC interim super middleweight title.
(Photo credit: Victor Ren/Showtime)
Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs) has seemed more friendly than usual in the build-up to his fight against the Mexican Monster Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs); some believe that he’s doing this, hoping that he won’t go all out, looking for a KO.
Benavidez says it’s helped him conserve his energy by dealing with the back & forth trash talking, and he says he’s going to use the extra strength that he has to punish the former two-division world champion Andrade in their fight on Showtime PPV at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
Thus far, the 26-year-old Benavidez hasn’t shown signs of being weight drained like in his past camps, particularly his last one for his fight with Caleb Plant.
However, there are still slightly less than two weeks to go, and Benavidez’s appearance will likely be emaciated and sickly by the time they weigh in on November 24th. He’s just too big for him not to wind up drained of life because the guy is gigantic for the 168-lb division.
Andrade will make sure that he takes full advantage of Benavidez if he’s not 100% after rehydrating for the fight, as he’s going to use movement, speed, and combination punching to outbox him.
Benavidez not wasting energy
“I think he’s in even more danger because I’m not wasting energy on a beef. When you have a beef, it’s just bull s**t because you’re going to fight anyways,” said David Benavidez to Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on Demetrius Andrade’s joking, friendly, light-hearted nature.
“It makes you go into the ring with certain emotions where sometimes you want to hit him with one big shot,” Benavidez continued. “With this fight, there’s no hard feelings with Boo Boo Andrade.
“I know he’s a great fighter, but I feel that once I’m not in that cloud of hate in my head, I can really go to work on combinations and have fun. Let my combinations free, go freely, and just be who I am.
“I think in my last fight [against Caleb Plant], I kind of got caught in that mode where I was trying to take his head off in the first couple of rounds, but once it to the sixth round I started letting my hands go, it was a completely different fight,” said Benavidez.
David to push hard for KO of Andrade
“Now that I know how to handle that in this fight, it’s completely different, but it’s still the same amount of intensity,” said Benavidez. “I’m working extremely hard because I was extremely disappointed that I didn’t get the knockout or the stoppage in my last fight. So, we’re going to try extremely hard to get it this time.”
Benavidez is still bummed out that he couldn’t score a knockout over former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant last March. This is a guy that Canelo knocked out in 2021 and he had an easier time against him.
Plant was beating Benavidez through the first six rounds, and it was only after he emptied his gas tank that he fell apart.
“I’m not new to boxing. I’ve been doing this for 23 years and sparred the best of the best,” said Benavidez. “I’ve been fighting really good fighters lately. Obviously, he’s another step up in class because he’s really good, but this is what I want. I don’t run from a challenge. I bring it in.”
It might be better for Benavidez to focus on his boxing skills, because Andrade is a counter puncher, and he does well against aggressive sluggers.
Benavidez is s one-dimensional fighter who only thinks knockout, and he can’t get away with that fighting style for long. The 2008 Olympian Andrade could expose him, and make him look bad if he doesn’t adapt his game for this fight.
“I’m very excited to get this fight, accept this challenge, and prove everybody wrong. Everybody likes to talk s**t about me, saying I’m not this, I’m not that.
“But after I beat the f**k out of whoever I have in the ring in front of me, they have nothing else to say to me. So, I’m going to continue to keep shutting everyone’s mouth up.
“If you’re a top-notch fighter, a world class fighter, that’s the number one key, visualization,” said Benavidez when asked if he’d visualized how his fight with Andrade would play out on November 25th.
“When I go on my long runs, I dissect how it’s going to go in my head and really go from round to round about what I’m going to do. That’s a good tip for young fighters coming up. That’s a big part of it, visualization.
“If you can get it done in your head, once it gets to the fight, it’s automatic. So you got to put the pieces in your head, put the game plan in, and then when you get in the ring, follow the game plan.
“Me beating the f*** out of Boo Boo Andrade, that’s exactly how it looks. With me, I’m going to strike the first chance I get. I don’t know. We’ll see how long he lasts, but he’s not going to last the whole fight. I promise you that.
“I feel great this fight. I feel really motivated and conditioned really well. I think in this camp, I’ve thrown more combinations than any other camp. In every sparring session, we’ve had at least ten amazing combinations in sparring every single time.
“I’m not just talking about one time. 30 times. Every one of those sparring sessions, I’ve had amazing flurries. I’m looking forward to having fun in this fight.
“I don’t think like that. ‘Oh, it’s going to be dangerous.’ I just look for his strong suits and weak suits,” said Benavidez about Andrade.
