Jones says Benavidez “looked like a guy that pulled down” to make 200 pounds

Roy Jones Jr says David Benavidez appeared to be cutting weight to make the cruiserweight limit. Jones made the comment after watching Benavidez at the weigh-in before his win over Gilberto Ramirez.

Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google

While discussing Benavidez’s dominant win over Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez with Andre Ward, Roy made a comment that stood out immediately when describing Benavidez at the weigh-in.

“When I saw him at the weigh-in, when I saw the picture of his face after the weigh-in, he looked like a guy that pulled down to make 200,” said Roy Jones Jr. to All The Smoke podcast about David Benavidez.

The wording caught attention because Roy was not describing a fighter naturally moving up in weight. He was describing someone who appeared to be stripping weight off just to hit the cruiserweight limit.

That is significant coming from Roy, who climbed divisions himself all the way to heavyweight during his Hall of Fame career. Roy immediately contrasted Benavidez’s situation with his own experience.

“I was a guy who had never been up to 200 before in my life when I fought for the heavyweight title. I couldn’t make 195. I couldn’t make 190,” said Jones Jr.

To many fans, Roy’s comments support what they have been arguing for years about Benavidez fighting far below his natural size. Benavidez looked enormous during his super middleweight run at 168 and still appeared physically bigger than most opponents after moving to 175.

Now, after hearing Roy say he looked drained making 200 pounds, some fans believe the conversation has shifted again.

Roy even floated the idea that Benavidez could eventually follow the same historic road he once took himself.

“This guy could be the next guy that was once super middleweight champ that could become heavyweight champ,” said Jones Jr, talking about Benavidez.

That idea is no longer being treated as fantasy by everyone around the sport. Veteran broadcaster Jim Lampley previously suggested Benavidez had the physical dimensions to compete at heavyweight one day, and Roy’s latest comments only added more fuel to that discussion.

Benavidez’s recent push for a 190-pound catchweight against Dmitry Bivol already sparked criticism from fans who felt it showed he was struggling to remain comfortable at 175. Roy’s remarks about Benavidez “pulling down” to make cruiserweight now make those suspicions look even more believable.

The bigger question is how far Benavidez plans to take it. Cruiserweight already looks manageable physically for him, and Roy openly suggested Oleksandr Usyk should be the target instead of a risky fight against Jai Opetaia.

At this point, the idea of Benavidez eventually campaigning at heavyweight no longer sounds as unrealistic as it once did.