BoxRec

What do you think of David Benavidez defensive skills ?

For me he's about average, uses his height reach and footwork to get him out of trouble.
Speed, power and better ring generalship and you could take a proper run at him.
His physical advantages give him a notch up almost every time, but as each bout passes his abilities become clearer.
At this point he looks ok but I can see stormy weather ahead.

Let him be attacked by someone decent first.

We'll let you know tonight.

Benavidez is a brilliantly offensive fighter, no doubt.

He reminds a little of Gerald McClellan in that he also doesn't need to worry too much about defence until he approaches the very summit of the division.

It's a valid point to ask about his defence as it doesn't look too good so far on what we've seen.

At what point exactly he will need to focus more on defence isn't clear, but no doubt he will.

Let's not forget that even the legendary Jack Dempsey found himself wanting when he came up against Gene Tunney's scientific defences. Or the 'Dark Destroyer' himself, Nigel Benn each time he faced Chris Eubank.

In fact it's difficult to think of anyone who was able to dominate for long on just pure offense. Even titans such as Liston and Foreman foundered against good defence.

GGG doesn't have much of a defence nowadays due to a slowing of reflexes etc, but he does have an iron chin and many still regard him as unbeaten.

Mike Tyson might have been the exception but unfortunately his life began to unravel outsid the ring long before the Douglas disaster.

Besides it's a great injustice to say he had a poor defence. That only came later after the parting with Rooney. Before then his defence was, as he later claimed, impregnable.

One of the best ever seen at HW.

Anyway, against Lemieux tonight, Benavidez might not need to worry too much about defence. If he can blast Lemieux out, as he well might, it won't matter to him.

The real test will come when he faces a genuinely slippery customer in the Tyson Fury mould.

Benavidez got dropped by Gavril and also he fought lots of stiffs. Lemmy can crack and he's more experienced.

DrDuke wrote: ↑21 May 2022, 00:25 Let him be attacked by someone decent first.

EXACTLY what I was thinking. Hard to judge a guy who has had 39 (thirty nine!) knock overs and dodged any credible challenges.

So far so good, until someone proves him wrong. He's bound to get caught sooner or later, as his defense seems to be his relentless offense so far.