Benavidez vs Andrade Fight Analysis
By Ralph Rimpell
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 25 Nov 2023
On Saturday night former two-time WBC 168lbs champion and current WBC interim 168lbs champion David Benavidez (27-0, 23KOs) defends his title against former two division (154lbs & 160lbs) world champion Demetrius Andrade (32-0, 19KOs) on Showtime Pay Per View (PPV) in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay.
This fight is an excellent matchup because arguably these two fighters are the two best fighters behind Undisputed Super Middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in the 168lbs division. Both are vying for an opportunity to go against Alvarez for the glory and the 8 figure paydays that would bring to their bank accounts.
Who is Demetrius Andrade and what does he have to do on Saturday night to defeat David Benavidez?
Andrade has been a professional boxer since 2009. Four years after making his debut (2013) he won his first world title which was the vacant WBO junior middleweight title. He won the WBA version in 2017. He moved up to middleweight (160lbs) in 2018 and won the WBO championship and made 5 defenses before relinquishing the title. Arguably the best fighter he faced on his boxing resume is Liam Williams. However, just because Andrade does NOT have well known fighters on his boxing resume doesn't mean that he can’t fight. Andrade has knockout power, speed, uses the ring well, has an awkward style, and is a left handed fighter. Most fighters tend to want to avoid fighting a lefthanded fighter because that makes the fight that much more difficult. The top fighters at 154lbs and 160lbs were NOT eager to fight Andrade when he was champion. It’s also the same in the 168lb division, which is now Andrade’s new division, with the exception of David Benavidez who accepted Andrade’s challenge.
Andrade is 35 years old which means he is 9 years older than Benavidez (26). Andrade may be 35 years old, but he is undefeated and has not been through wars in the ring that we as the public know of. The keys to victory for Andrade are at the sound of the first bell he must first earn Benavidez respect by showing him through his punching power that he is equally as strong as Benavidez and will not be bullied physically. Andrade must use good ring movement, but he will have to stand and fight for certain periods of each round for as long as the fight last for either fighter. Andrade must use the entire ring so Benavidez will expend energy trying to close the gap. Andrade must outwork and outland Benavidez by throwing “punches in bunches” for the entire 12 rounds, not just for the first 6 rounds because Benavidez will likely begin to build momentum after the 5th round if Andrade begins to tire from expending to much energy after the first 5 to 6 rounds. Andrade must be prepared mentally and physically to go 12 rounds to outwork Benavidez. If Andrade can outwork Benavidez, he may possibly stop him in 9 or 10 rounds if Benavidez is not able to impose his will on him as he has for his previous 27 opponents.
Who is David Benavidez and what does he have to do to come out victorious against Demetrius Andrade on Saturday night?
David Benavidez, not to be confused with his brother Jose Benavidez, Jr, is one of the best “Pound for Pound” (P4P) boxers in boxing today. Not only does he hold the WBC 168lbs interim title, he is undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez’s mandatory challenger. He became the youngest supermiddleweight champion winning the title at 20 years old in 2017 against Ronald Gavril. After a failed drug test a year later in 2018, he was stripped of the title. He regained the title in 2019, but lost it on the scales for not making the 168lbs limit prior to facing Roamer Alexis Angulo. Now more disciplined and mature with so much at stake he won 2 fights after losing the title on the scales. In his 3rd fight after the Angulo fight, he demolished former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux in 3 spectacular rounds to win the title he currently holds. To defeat Andrade, Benavidez will have to be prepared mentally and physically to go 12 rounds as well. Andrade will use angles and throw punches from all different angles so Benavidez must use good defense to evade those punches. Benavidez will have to make all his punches count and go to the body in order slow Andrade down. Benavidez will also have to time Andrade to connect his punches as he tries to come in and land punches then quickly get out of the pocket to utilize the rest of the ring to get away from Andrade. Benavidez will also have to outwork and wear down Andrade.
The winner of this fight will be the fighter who is able to impose his will on the other by executing their game plan effectively. A lot is at stake for the winner of this fight such as a title fight against undisputed supermiddleweight champion Canelo “Saul” Alvarez.
This writer picks Demetrius Andrade by upset split decision victory.
Boxing Notes
Congratulations to Shakur Stevenson for winning his 3rd world title in 3 divisions after six years in the professional ranks when he outpointed Edwin De Los Santos in a lightweight bout. Shakur is facing heavy criticism for fighting a cautious fight that was uneventful. Many should remember that the late great Pernell “Sweet Pea” Whitaker who won 4 world titles in 4 divisions before he retired used to get similar criticism for his defensive way of fighting. It’s too early to say if Shakur will have the same type of career as Pernell Whitaker but there is nothing wrong to get the victory to live and fight another day especially if the rumors are true that Shakur was not 100% because of nursing an injury…The Heavyweight division has plenty of fights that the boxing fans want to see. Fights such as Wilder vs Joshua (Even after all these years fans still want to see it), Wilder vs Usyk, Fury vs Usyk and Fury vs Joshua. They all wouldn’t mind seeing Francis Ngannou against any of the above after he did so well against Fury. All the fighters peek the imagination of the boxing fans going back and forth on social media about fights against each other, but the fights don’t get signed, except for Fury vs Ngannou we recently saw. Perhaps is 2024 the fans will see “Big Fights” in the heavyweight division.
***Ralph Rimpell is a writer based out of New York and is a Boxing Correspondent for Philboxing.com. Ralph holds an undergraduate degree from City University of New York. He has been a Boxing Writer for over ten years having written for several top boxing websites on the World Wide Web. Before becoming a writer, Ralph's passion was for professional wrestling until he realized professional wrestling was entertainment and not a real sport. It was at that time the 1984 US Olympic team made up of future stars such as Evander Holyfield, Meldrick Taylor, Pernell Whitaker, etc. entered the professional ranks and signed with promotional outfit Main Events.It was also at that time a young exciting Heavyweight originally hailing from Brooklyn named Mike Tyson also turned professional and became the face of boxing. Young boxing fan Ralph just couldn't get enough of boxing as a large part of it was being broadcast on "free TV". As time went on, Ralph felt boxing writers were not being forthcoming with their boxing coverage, opinion pieces, interviews, etc. So Ralph decided to write an article and submitted it to a Boxing website thinking it would be deleted and ignored by the Editor. To Ralph's surprise his article was posted on their website and the readers embraced it. The rest is history.
"I thank God for the Internet because it has created opportunities for writers like myself who likely would not have been given an opportunity to write for print publications. I hope someday soon to expand my role in Boxing on different levels." -- Ralph Rimpell
Contact Writer: RLuvsboxing@aol.com
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ralph Rimpell.
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