BoxRec

David Benavidez First World Title Defence Against Fighter With 88% KO Ratio Officially Announced

David Benavidez is set for the first defence of his WBC Light-Heavyweight World Title this November.

The undefeated 28-year-old moved up to the 175lbs division after failing to secure a shot at super-middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Since doing so, Benavidez has not put a foot wrong in the division, beating Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his debut to win the WBC Interim belt and then adding the WBA Regular strap next time out against tough David Morrell.

Benavidez was upgraded to full champion on April 7 when previously undisputed Dmitry Bivol decided to vacate the WBC belt in favour of having a trilogy bout with Artur Beterbiev.

Though ‘El Monstruo’ said he did not want to win the belt without throwing a punch, he has since promised to continue to deliver fans some of the best match-ups in the sport. His first defence was, according to the team, between Callum Smith and Anthony Yarde. The two Brits are ranked second and third respectively with the WBC.

Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh has now announced that it is Yarde who has landed the shot.

Yarde – 27‑3 with 24 KOs – recently closed out his light-heavyweight trilogy with Lyndon Arthur on April 26 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Securing a unanimous decision, the big-punching 33-year-old delivered a gritty performance – but the fight was considered dull by many fans and analysts.

Despite that, the win adds to Yarde’s momentum, bringing him to four straight victories after his 2023 defeat to Artur Beterbiev. He has previously lost to Sergey Kovalev in the other world title challenge of his career.

More on the fight is expected soon, but it looks to be landing on the same card as Devin Haney vs welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr.

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Yarde just sort of kicks about getting low level wins under his belt, until he kind of just gets fed to someone elite, where he puts in a spirited effort before getting stopped.

Cyclops wrote: ↑07 Jul 2025, 07:57 Yarde just sort of kicks about getting low level wins under his belt, until he kind of just gets fed to someone elite, where he puts in a spirited effort before getting stopped.

Yh, then fans praise him for his efforts..

Maybe he's trying to beat Martin Murray's record. What is is 4 failed world title fights?

Anyone higher?

Evander wrote: ↑05 Jul 2025, 03:31 175
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benavidez will kick his ass, you can then faun over another yarde loss

‘RING IV’ ANNOUNCED FOR NOVEMBER 22 IN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA; TO FEATURE BENAVIDEZ-YARDE & HANEY-NORMAN

Turki Alalshikh officially announced the date for “Ring IV” through his X account Monday night.

The Ring’s next pay-per-view show has been scheduled for November 22 at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. As previously reported by The Ring, the loaded card is set to feature four 12-round world title fights in different divisions.

David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) will defend his WBC light heavyweight title against Anthony Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs). In the bout before Benavidez faces Yarde, Brian Norman Jr. (28-0, 22 KOs, 1 NC) will put his WBO welterweight title on the line versus Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs, 1 NC), a former undisputed lightweight champion.

Also November 22, Sam Noakes and Abdullah Mason will square off for the vacant WBO lightweight title.

Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs) is the WBO’s No. 1-ranked contender in the lightweight division. Mason (19-0, 17 KOs) is ranked No. 2 by the WBO.

Noakes and Mason will fight for the WBO belt Keyshawn Davis gave up on the scale June 6, when he came in 4.3 pounds overweight for an optional title defense against Edwin De Los Santos the next night at Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia, Davis’ hometown. The Davis-De Los Santos fight was canceled because De Los Santos’ former promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, considered it too dangerous for the Dominican southpaw to fight someone so much heavier than him.

“Ring IV” could also feature a long-discussed fight to determine boxing’s undisputed junior bantamweight champion. If favored Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (21-0, 14 KOs), who owns the The Ring and WBC 115-pound crowns, beats WBO champ Phumelela Cafu (11-0-3, 8 KOs) on July 19 in Frisco, Texas, Rodriguez will battle IBF and WBA champ Fernando Martinez (18-0, 9 KOs) on November 22.

A press conference to formally announce “Ring IV” has been scheduled for 1 p.m. ET Friday at Hard Rock Times Square in New York. It will be streamed live on The Ring’s social media channels.

The “Ring IV” press conference will follow the ceremonial weigh-in for “Ring III,” the DAZN Pay-Per-View event scheduled to take place Saturday night at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑07 Jul 2025, 13:42

Evander wrote: ↑05 Jul 2025, 03:31 175
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benavidez will kick his ass, you can then faun over another yarde loss

Yarde has fought some top notch opponents in unfavourable settings and circumstances
Kovalev away and Beterbiev prime were something else
Yarde will look the part and most likely give a good account of himself
Does he have it in him to push himself further and surprise Benavidez, it's possible

Has it crossed your minds what Benavidez weakness is ?

Evander wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 00:24 Has it crossed your minds what Benavidez weakness is ?

I think it will be like with Golovkin. He looked beast when oponents were physically weaker and were forced to fight backwards. When they were strong enough to push back GGG, he did not looked that good (Jacobs, Canelo 2, Derevyanchenko). I dont think Yarde is that guy, but still good fight

Cent0089 wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 01:15

Evander wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 00:24 Has it crossed your minds what Benavidez weakness is ?

I think it will be like with Golovkin. He looked beast when oponents were physically weaker and were forced to fight backwards. When they were strong enough to push back GGG, he did not looked that good (Jacobs, Canelo 2, Derevyanchenko). I dont think Yarde is that guy, but still good fight

Can Yarde catch him early
Inside 6
Most likely Benavidez will burrow down
Yarde will rally too late
Benavidez will have settled in by 6-7

Evander wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 01:17

Cent0089 wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 01:15

Evander wrote: ↑11 Jul 2025, 00:24 Has it crossed your minds what Benavidez weakness is ?

I think it will be like with Golovkin. He looked beast when oponents were physically weaker and were forced to fight backwards. When they were strong enough to push back GGG, he did not looked that good (Jacobs, Canelo 2, Derevyanchenko). I dont think Yarde is that guy, but still good fight

Can Yarde catch him early
Inside 6
Most likely Benavidez will burrow down
Yarde will rally too late
Benavidez will have settled in by 6-7

Or you just kick it off and see who makes it

Yarde on taking on the toughest challenges at light heavyweight
“Don’t ever question my character. I just feel like I only really know what someone’s about once I fought them. I don’t care about how they fought other people. We saw it with Beterbiev, I have him one of his hardest fights before the Bivol fight, damaged him, cut him, no one was expecting that. And I saw what people was writing, they expected me to get cleaned out like everyone else.

“But, again, I was ahead on the scorecards, I learned a lot from the fight, could take something from the fight, and again, just shows my character. I will fight anybody.”

On Benavidez’s reputation for brutality.
“I think Beterbiev was known as a more destructive puncher. I think with Benavidez, he’s known more as a volume, pressure, kind of boxer. But I don’t care. I don’t care if they’re master boxers, punchers, I don’t care. And if you look at the people I’ve fought, I fought them where I’m premature in the sport. I don’t care.”

On this third chance at a world title and if he worries he’ll never get over the hump
“No. Absolutely not...I only care about the opinion of myself — what I really think about myself — that’s a conversation a lot people can’t have in this world, what they really think of themselves, are they proud of themselves, did they go after things, did they put it all on the line...I can look in the mirror, look at my own eyeballs and say ‘yeah, he’s challenged every fear in his bone, in his body.’”

On whether he thinks he can KO Benavidez
“100%. I feel like the reason it’s an exciting fight is because people know I’m going to be the underdog, you’ve got to give him his credits...but they know that I’m one of them people where it’s not even a banana, it’s a different kind of slippery fruit you can think of, it’s okra. They’re saying ‘this guy is going to give it,’ so I think it’s one of those things were everyone is excited to see what happens.”

Looks like another hard fight coming up.

Yarde will be awkward and Yarde will be dangerous BUT once Benavidez figures him out style wise, the end will be in sight.

Something seems to be keeping Yarde from getting to the absolute summit, but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what.

Maybe only Anthony Yarde knows the answer?

Thomastearns wrote: ↑25 Jul 2025, 09:26 Looks like another hard fight coming up.

Yarde will be awkward and Yarde will be dangerous BUT once Benavidez figures him out style wise, the end will be in sight.

Something seems to be keeping Yarde from getting to the absolute summit, but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what.

Maybe only Anthony Yarde knows the answer?

Probably lack of experience against beatable top 25 opponents

loser to the stars

Yarde's going to get fustigated, he's not got a good style for Benvidez. I think it will be a relatively early stoppage (mid rounds) for DB.

joshj909 wrote: ↑25 Jul 2025, 09:33

Thomastearns wrote: ↑25 Jul 2025, 09:26 Looks like another hard fight coming up.

Yarde will be awkward and Yarde will be dangerous BUT once Benavidez figures him out style wise, the end will be in sight.

Something seems to be keeping Yarde from getting to the absolute summit, but it's difficult to pinpoint exactly what.

Maybe only Anthony Yarde knows the answer?

Probably lack of experience against beatable top 25 opponents

Yarde's had a strange career trajectory, with an average of 2 fights a year against mainly unfamiliar faces over a 10 year period.

Yet, somehow his camp managed to land him two big fights against Kovalev and Beterbiev, in which despite a good showing, he ended up getting KO'd.

It's a strange strategy but it seems to have worked for them as he's now got a third big fight in which he'll probably also get knocked out in.

Yes, a strange career strategy, where you play the fall guy when your big name opponent can't secure their preferred big money fight, but it seems to have paid well.

Could Yarde have been managed better?

Most likely.

Could his camp have made more money?

Well, the jury remains out on that one, but he hasn't done too badly, averaging over $200k for his last 10 outings.

No multi-million fights, but not too bad.

Hopefully he'll be getting something closer to the $350k he got for getting bashed up by Beterbiev.

A win against Benavidez, unlikely as it seems, and he'll have finally hit the jackpot.



https://www.sportysalaries.com/2025/04/ ... s.html?m=1

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑03 Aug 2025, 08:18

That was probaly Gvozdyk, but he definitely put on a good fight as well.