The battle of David: David Benavidez versus David Lemieux

David Benavidez will bring several advantages into the squared circle against David Lemieux.

Benavidez is taller, slightly faster, and younger.

His chin is solid - while Lemieux’s has been iffy.

Benavidez is undefeated in 25 fights, scoring 22 knockouts. The man in the mirror has been an issue. Benavidez outslugged Ronald Gavril to capture the WBC super-middleweight title in 2017. He repeated the feat six months later. 

A cocaine test derailed him in 2018.

Out of the ring a year, he demolished J’Leon Love in two before facing WBC champion Anthony Dirrell. Benavidez pounded on Dirrell for nine rounds until the referee stopped the bout.

A champion for the second time, Benavidez was scheduled to make his first defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo 21 months ago but was derailed by a lack of discipline.

He missed weight and lost his belt.

"I’m very disappointed losing my title on the scales, but I still have a job to do tomorrow,” said Benavidez. "I lose the title, but I’m still going to win the fight tomorrow. "

Benavidez,25, stopped Angulo in 10. Last year he overwhelmed the courageous Kyrone Davis in seven one-sided rounds.

“I see flaws in David’s game and I’m sure he sees flaws in me, Benavidez said during a media conference call last month. “I know he wants to stop me, and I want to stop him. This could be the Fight of the Year because of what’s at stake and because of the type of fighters we are.”

Speaking of advantages, Lemieux,33, has one.

He can crack - and then some.

Lemieux began his career with a bang-winning 20-fights by knockout. Some reckoning came in fight 25—when the heavily favored Lemieux ran out of gas and was stopped by Marco Antonio Rubio. Lemieux was back in the ring eight months later but looked tentative in dropping a 12-round majority decision to Joachim Alcine.

Lemieux took off eight months to regroup and recharge. The break did him some good. He came back with a better understanding of his skill set. Sure, he had the power to knock a building down, but he’d have to be smart and learn to box more. Lemieux won the NABF middleweight belt by starching Fernando Guerrero in less than 10 minutes. He followed that up by beating up Hassen N’Dam N’Jikam to add a world middleweight title in 2014.

He called out the best fighter at the time in the division, Gennadiy Golovkin, and got his wish in 2015. Golovkin respected Lemieux’s power but little else. Lemieux was down in round five and walking to his dressing room 15 minutes later.

Lemieux (43-4, 33 Kos) has gone 9-1 since losing to Golovkin, the one-loss a  12 round blowout against Billy Joe Saunders. His conditioning is still a concern. Even though he brutally knocked out Curtis Stevens in a comeback fight, he was breathing heavily and slightly chubby. 

It’s important to note that Lemieux was fortunate a few years ago, after being floored twice, to get the nod over middle-of-the-road contender Max Bursack in his debut match as a super-middleweight.

Benavidez is heavily favored to win this Saturday, but Lemieux is always dangerous. Just ask any of his 36 victims who he sent to dreamland.

That alone won’t be enough Saturday night.

What I see: Benavidez by stoppage.