Ringside report - David Benavidez impressive in win over Demetrius Andrade

Sub Lead28-Nov-23by Bill Tibbs

With his win Saturday night, he has taken yet another leap north in the rankings as perhaps boxing’s very best at 168-pounds and certainly one of boxing’s most impressive fighters overall.

David Benavidez impresses

This past Saturday night, David Benavidez, (28-0, 24 KOs), stalked and stopped previously unbeaten Demetrius Andrade, (28-1, 19 KOs), forcing the former two-division champ to say ‘no mas’ at the end of the 6th round. With the win, Benavidez won the WBC interim super middleweight championship at the Michelob Arena at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Benavidez turned pro in 2013 as a 16-year-old and has been perfect in 28 fights over the last decade. A world champion by 2017, he has won and defended the WBC super-middleweight title a total of 7 times over his championship run.

With his win Saturday night, he has taken yet another leap north in the rankings as perhaps boxing’s very best at 168 pounds and certainly one of boxing’s most impressive fighters overall.

It was classic Benavidez pressure that eventually broke down Andrade. The win now will have fans demanding a fight against undisputed, 168-pound king Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Andrade was successful early moving and boxing Benavidez. But, once Benavidez realized that he didn’t have any serious firepower to worry about he stepped on the gas and brought the punishment to Andrade.

By the 4th round, Benavidez, who possesses very fast hands for a bigger fighter, was all over Andrade. He eventually dropped him at round’s end. The knockdown brought the crowd of just under 10,000 to their feet.

For the last 2 rounds, before Andrade’s corner stopped the fight between rounds 6 and 7, it was all Benavidez. For the last 6 minutes of the fight, the bout resembled one guy looking to stop his opponent and one guy in survival mode.

Andrade was tiring and Benavidez was stalking and delivering serious punishment. After getting wobbled several times in the 6th round Andrade’s corner had seen enough, more than likely saving him from getting knocked out.

After the fight, Benavidez addressed the crowd, which was clearly a pro-Benavidez gathering. In a post-fight interview, he spoke about the biggest fight in the sport – Benavidez vs. Canelo Alvarez.

“I want to thank all my people. I think I just solidified myself as a dominant force here. I just reminded everyone who the real champion at 168 is. Who wants to see me versus Canelo?”, he said. “I’m going to be super middleweight champion of the world, three-time world champion. Now just give me the fight that we all want to see. Who wants to see Benavidez versus Canelo?”, he said to thunderous applause.

"I just have to keep beating who they put in front of me. I’m the best. I’m going to be the best. I’m going to be a legend by the time I’m done, so whoever you keep putting in front of me, I’ll keep knocking them down”, he said.

As fans cheered his every word, the biggest response was when he issued the challenge to Alvarez, a fight boxing desperately wants to see.

"Let’s give the people what they want to see, and they want to see David Benavidez against Canelo!"

Undercard Results

Jermall Charlo UD 10 Jose Benavidez Jr.

Lamont Roach SD 12 Hector Luis Garcia - WBA super featherweight title

Subriel Matias TKO 6 Shohjahon Ergashev - IBF super lightweight title

Off TV

Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov UD 10 Pablo Vicente

Allem Medina W MD 4 Allex Holley

Israel Mercado W UD 6 Wesley Rivers

Michel Rivera W UD 10 Sergey Lipinets

Vito Mielniki Jr. KO 1 Alexis Salazar