Speaker 1: Well, I would like to welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 2: This week it is the WBC Light Heavyweight Champion of
Speaker 2: the World, David Benavidez, also the WBA's regular title holder.
Speaker 1: David, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to this fight you have coming up
Speaker 2: November twenty second on the Ring Magazine pay per view
Speaker 2: card from read Saudi Arabia. You'll be headlining defending your
Speaker 2: title against Anthony Yard, the experienced venter who spot for
Speaker 2: world titles before. So welcome to the show. I know
Speaker 2: you've recently just gotten to Saudi Arabia. I was the trip,
Speaker 2: and tell me about your thoughts on on making that
Speaker 2: long excursion to the other side of the world for
Speaker 2: this fight.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I felt really good.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm really excited for this. It was extremely
Speaker 3: long trip, but you know, now we're here, so the
Speaker 3: hardest part of the travel is over.
Speaker 1: But I felt really good. Man.
Speaker 3: I've been working extremely hard for this training camp. I
Speaker 3: got like about four months and a half training and
Speaker 3: every camp, you know, for me, seems to be the
Speaker 3: best camp because you know, the stakes keep getting highed,
Speaker 3: you know, I keep you know, I'm getting more experience,
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm I'm finding myself in a comfort zone.
Speaker 3: You know, I'm really getting into my prime now. So
Speaker 3: I felt really good. Man, I've been I've worked extremely hard.
Speaker 3: I didn't leave any stone unturned, conditioning, sparring, running, Everything
Speaker 3: came out really well for this fight. You know, I'm
Speaker 3: only you know, I'm nine pounds away from the weight
Speaker 3: cut or from the weight right now, so you know,
Speaker 3: I'm a little bit ahead of schedule.
Speaker 1: So I'm very excited. I'm very happy.
Speaker 3: You know, they've treated me really good. I've been received
Speaker 3: really well here and you know, I'm excited for this
Speaker 3: for the real season card.
Speaker 1: So one thing I wanted to ask you about that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was at your last fight back in February,
Speaker 2: had a great win against David Morrell in a really
Speaker 2: good fight, and there was a lot of discussion after
Speaker 2: that fight because your about took place just a week
Speaker 2: or two before they had the rematch between Dimitri Bibo
Speaker 2: and Arthur Better Viet that were fighting for the undisputed title,
Speaker 2: and you had been invited to attend that fight by
Speaker 2: Turkey Alshikhus putting on this cart. And I remember you
Speaker 2: came to the press conference after your victory. You were
Speaker 2: very respectful, but you're like, listen, you know what, I'm
Speaker 2: making my fan base here in Las Vagas. This has
Speaker 2: been one of the best event I've had. Great crowd
Speaker 2: that was on fire for your fight, good performance, and
Speaker 2: you were building yourself and your preference was to continue
Speaker 2: to build yourself in Las Vegas and not go overseas
Speaker 2: and fight in Saudi Arabia. And now here we are, uh,
Speaker 2: you know later this later that same year, and in
Speaker 2: fact your next fight will be in Saudi Arabia, uh,
Speaker 2: in this fight against Anthey Art. So I'm wondering what
Speaker 2: was uh, what was it that changed? I mean, I
Speaker 2: assume there was a financial offer that you couldn't refuse, perhaps,
Speaker 2: but what was it that made you change your mind
Speaker 2: and and uh and and decide to leave Vegas and
Speaker 2: go to fight in Saudi Yeah.
Speaker 3: So it was actually suggested by you know, PBC Al
Speaker 3: Haymon and samsu Lucus that I fight over here. They
Speaker 3: you know, they gave me a pretty good offer. And
Speaker 3: then not only about this this fight in particular, but
Speaker 3: you know, there may be you know, other great fights
Speaker 3: that we could look, we could see into maybe with
Speaker 3: arts are better be it maybe will be bold, and
Speaker 3: you know it's my right to come out here. And
Speaker 3: you know, and and uh contend for the world titles.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been you know, decline to fight, you know,
Speaker 3: to unify the titles on one sixty eight. So you know,
Speaker 3: one seventy five, I was you know, I was the
Speaker 3: number one contender for the WBC. You know, I was
Speaker 3: elevated for the WBC World Champion Championship. But you know,
Speaker 3: my al Haim and Samson Lukewitz and PBC, you know,
Speaker 3: they're really cool about it. They suggested that I fought
Speaker 3: over here, so you know, it's a it was a
Speaker 3: win win situation.
Speaker 1: For both of us.
Speaker 3: You know, I definitely did want to stay in Las
Speaker 3: Vegas and fight my next fight, but you know, things happen,
Speaker 3: and you know, this is this is another great opportunity
Speaker 3: for me, you know, and and and in my career,
Speaker 3: you know, and and ultimately my goal is to unify
Speaker 3: the belts at one seventy five. You know, I was
Speaker 3: supposed to do that against Dmitri Buvolt, but he got
Speaker 3: injured and they say they want to get the fight
Speaker 3: with with uh er better be it for the third time.
Speaker 3: So you know, we got to just wait patiently. But
Speaker 3: while we wait patiently, this is the next best fight
Speaker 3: that we can make happen.
Speaker 2: So what do you think, though, when this is over,
Speaker 2: we'll see you back in Vegas in the not too
Speaker 2: distant future.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. You know, we've had to see
Speaker 3: things go. But I definitely do want to go back
Speaker 3: to Vegas and fight. Like I said, I want to
Speaker 3: you know, my market is in the US. Well, like
Speaker 3: I said, there was an opportunity here that I could
Speaker 3: fight for the fans of Saudi Arabia, and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm just excited to be here and perform for these
Speaker 3: fans out here.
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned about, you know, some of the other
Speaker 2: names in the way class and how you you know,
Speaker 2: had been elevated from interim, and I was I'm interested
Speaker 2: to hear. The perspective from the fighters is, Unfortunately, in
Speaker 2: today's boxing day and age, there's a lot of tremendous
Speaker 2: fighters that get their belts because they've become interim champions
Speaker 2: and don't get necessary to fight the actual champion to
Speaker 2: win that belt. That title holder might vacator, something happens
Speaker 2: and the other guy gets elevated, which was.
Speaker 1: The case that happened to you.
Speaker 2: Is there any sort of sense of disappointment that, Well, certainly,
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody's gonna look at David Denavie to
Speaker 2: say you're not a worthy champion and fight heavyweights or
Speaker 2: when you were at super middleweight, but that the way
Speaker 2: that you obtained the belt was because of being elevated.
Speaker 2: That it kind of it denies you of the of
Speaker 2: the of the thing that every champion wants to hear,
Speaker 2: you know, and the new you know in the ring.
Speaker 1: How do you square that circle? I guess yeah, it
Speaker 1: was for me.
Speaker 3: It's a little I'm not gonna say disappointing because you know,
Speaker 3: I'm still I got the world title, but I would
Speaker 3: I'm an old school fighter. I'd rather win it. I'd
Speaker 3: rather go in there and win it in front of
Speaker 3: a crowd. Well, like I said, nonetheless, the world title
Speaker 3: is a world title, you know, and that puts me
Speaker 3: in position to get other big fights, you know, with
Speaker 3: with with h for other world titles. So, like I said,
Speaker 3: it's a little disappointing, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: you know, world world champion right now, so that's all
Speaker 3: that matters.
Speaker 2: Well, you mentioned a little bit about the you know,
Speaker 2: the very rigorous travel, tough travel to get there, a
Speaker 2: long trip from the United States, particularly being on the
Speaker 2: West coast, to get all the way to read and
Speaker 2: now because the fights and read uh at least to
Speaker 2: accommodate the audience for this fight, which is going to
Speaker 2: be largely an American audience because of your fight and
Speaker 2: as well as some of the great undercard fights on
Speaker 2: the show that are American bass fighters. It's going to
Speaker 2: be at an unusual time. Uh, not for us here
Speaker 2: in the United States where we'll see it when we
Speaker 2: normally would see fights, but for the boxers involved, it's
Speaker 2: going to be basically the middle of the night. We've
Speaker 2: seen that happen with some other fights. How are you
Speaker 2: dealing or how do you plan to deal with sort
Speaker 2: of the adjustment to make sure that you're at your
Speaker 2: best when you might be fighting at like four in
Speaker 2: the morning local time.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've adjusted my my my sleeping schedule. Basically,
Speaker 3: I'm more of a night out now, you know. I'm
Speaker 3: actually about to go to the gym right now at twelve.
Speaker 3: Gets started probably in like around two thirty or three,
Speaker 3: but I came here a month earlier. I've been in
Speaker 3: Dubai the past three weeks, so you know, just just
Speaker 3: to deal with the time difference and all that. But
Speaker 3: I've already started training at twelve, so my body's getting
Speaker 3: has been getting used to that. Fighting at night. It's
Speaker 3: something different for me. You know, I'm not gonna say
Speaker 3: that I'm gonna know exactly how I feel fighting at four,
Speaker 3: i am, but you know, we're we're taking the right
Speaker 3: precautions to make sure the body gets used to the
Speaker 3: late the fight change.
Speaker 2: Well, certainly, if you've already been over in Dubai for
Speaker 2: three weeks, the time there compared to Saudi Arabia is
Speaker 2: a lot more similar than if you were still, you know,
Speaker 2: here in the United States.
Speaker 1: But anyway, let's talk a little bit and the art.
Speaker 2: He is your opponent, a well known fighter, certainly to
Speaker 2: the British fans anyway, a respected veteran, challenge for the
Speaker 2: world title twice before. This will be his third opportunity.
Speaker 2: He is oh and two in those fights, he got
Speaker 2: stopped in round eleven by Sergey Kovalev, and really what
Speaker 2: was Sergey's last big win in twenty nineteen. Followed that
Speaker 2: up in twenty twenty three, he got knocked out by
Speaker 2: Arthur better Viev in the eighth round. He has won
Speaker 2: four fights in a row since then. He avenged a
Speaker 2: loss to Lindon Arthur in April. I wonder what is
Speaker 2: your view of Yard and in terms of where he
Speaker 2: is in the scheme of the light heavyweights, you know,
Speaker 2: he has lost, like I said, in the moments where
Speaker 2: he has stepped up seems to me in terms of
Speaker 2: his skills, and I don't mean this negatively basic, you know,
Speaker 2: but with good punching power.
Speaker 3: Also, yeah, he's a good fighter, but unfortunately for him,
Speaker 3: he's going to be oh and three in world title fights.
Speaker 3: You know, he's, like I said, you put on some
Speaker 3: great performances, but nonetheless he's came up short every single time.
Speaker 3: And you know, I put myself on the same level
Speaker 3: or if not better than those champions that you mentioned,
Speaker 3: you know, like better Vi a Covid le f and
Speaker 3: you know, but he's gonna us going to come in
Speaker 3: tremendous shape. You know, he's you know, he's a strong fighter.
Speaker 3: But you know, I just feel like I'm in a
Speaker 3: different level right now. I feel like I've seen that
Speaker 3: type of fighting style before over and over again. But
Speaker 3: you know, like I said, I didn't take him easily.
Speaker 3: I didn't take him lightly. I'm not overlooking him. I
Speaker 3: heard his trainers saying that I'm overlooking him. I've never
Speaker 3: overlooked anybody. That's why I'm in the position I am
Speaker 3: right now. And if anything, I probably trained harder from
Speaker 3: him than I have for anybody else. You know, like
Speaker 3: I said, I have four months and I have training
Speaker 3: for this training cabin. I'm tremendous shape, and I feel
Speaker 3: really good, and I see a lot of opportunities for
Speaker 3: me to hurt him in a lot of different cases.
Speaker 3: And so you know, I've put together a great game plan.
Speaker 3: Now it's just for me to go in there. You know,
Speaker 3: follow my game plan, you know, keep my distance, use
Speaker 3: the jab, attack the body, through the combinations, and you know,
Speaker 3: just just just.
Speaker 1: Continue to attack.
Speaker 3: But like I said, I see a lot of holes
Speaker 3: in his game. And you know, if I follow my
Speaker 3: game plan, if I follow my game plan perfectly, I
Speaker 3: see myself stopping him.
Speaker 1: Well, I was gonna ask you about that.
Speaker 2: You're this is gonna be your third fight now since
Speaker 2: you've moved up from Super Midawaight at Super midtaweight, you
Speaker 2: are pretty much destroying everybody, knocking guys out looking uh,
Speaker 2: you know, not just good in terms of winning, but
Speaker 2: in terms of doing it in style with the stoppage.
Speaker 2: In your two fights so far at seventy five, you
Speaker 2: went the distance with a former champion, Alexander Votzik, and
Speaker 2: then you had the decision. Also, you know, both of
Speaker 2: them were clear decisions against David Morrell as well. So
Speaker 2: I guess there are some people that say, Okay, he's
Speaker 2: got two fights at light heavyweight, went the twelve round
Speaker 2: distance both times. Did he carry his punching power that
Speaker 2: was so evident at super midawaight into the light heavyweight division.
Speaker 2: Obviously we'll see what happens in the fight with Anthony Ark,
Speaker 2: But how do you think that that has translated? Are
Speaker 2: you still the puncher at light heavyweight that you work
Speaker 2: at super middleweight?
Speaker 3: No, I definitely do feel like I'm the puncher. It's
Speaker 3: just that and now I've noticed that going up in
Speaker 3: weight class, these guys are bigger, So you you don't
Speaker 3: have to shrictly just focus on punching power. You have
Speaker 3: to go back to the basics. You have to use footwork,
Speaker 3: you know, you have to use combinations, You have to
Speaker 3: set things up. You have to use the distance. And
Speaker 3: like I said, I've I've worked on the things. I've
Speaker 3: worked on those things. You know, I've, like I said,
Speaker 3: I've put together a really good game plan. And you know,
Speaker 3: people are gonna say whatever they want to say. But
Speaker 3: at the end of the day, once he's seen both
Speaker 3: those fights. I heard both those fighters in both of
Speaker 3: those fights.
Speaker 1: So that's true.
Speaker 3: Power hasn't The power hasn't gone anywhere, you know. Like
Speaker 3: I said, I just need to set it up a
Speaker 3: little bit better. And you know, and you know, follow
Speaker 3: my game plan more. You know, like I said, me
Speaker 3: and my father, my team, we put together a great,
Speaker 3: great game plan. So now I'm gonna just I'm gonna
Speaker 3: go in there, follow the game plan. But I guarantee
Speaker 3: you I will hurt at the yard in there, and
Speaker 3: you know, I do see myself stopping him in the
Speaker 3: later rounds.
Speaker 2: I know you spent all that time chasing Canelo Alvarez
Speaker 2: when you guys were both in the super midweight division.
Speaker 1: I was wondering. You know.
Speaker 2: He come off a loss in his last bet in
Speaker 2: September against Terrence Crawford, who moved up two way classes
Speaker 2: to fight him, And I wonder when you saw the
Speaker 2: way that he performed, which certainly he did not look
Speaker 2: at his against Terrence Crawford, who fought obviously a really
Speaker 2: good fight. Uh, do you think that that performance was
Speaker 2: sort of the proof needed to show that he was
Speaker 2: Probably for him, it wasn't his best interest to mess
Speaker 2: around with David Denvitez.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3: I think that's why they put the fight. You know,
Speaker 3: they that they didn't want to fight for such a
Speaker 3: long time, and that's why they keeps shooting the question
Speaker 3: down when every time to ask him. They know that
Speaker 3: I'm not coming to play any games. They know I'm
Speaker 3: a strong fighter, they know I'm a red lentless fighter.
Speaker 3: They know I have a great gas tank in the fights,
Speaker 3: so they knew they definitely know him a big problem.
Speaker 3: You know, whether whether I say that there he was
Speaker 3: ducking me or not. You know, that's gonna, you know,
Speaker 3: bring up a whole lot of stuff.
Speaker 1: People are gonna say this and.
Speaker 3: That, But at the end of the day, I know
Speaker 3: what I could do in there with Canelo aubera Is
Speaker 3: and he knows what I could do as well. So
Speaker 3: you know, maybe this this fight, the loss with him
Speaker 3: in Terrence Crawford. Maybe this puts me at a better
Speaker 3: position to get a fight with him, because now what
Speaker 3: is Canelo going to do. He doesn't have any belts,
Speaker 3: there's not really anybody else for him to fight at
Speaker 3: one sixty eight. In my opinion, his best interest is
Speaker 3: to come up to one seventy five fight Callum Smith,
Speaker 3: get a victory with Callum Smith or whoever however that
Speaker 3: fight plays out, and then I could get the winner
Speaker 3: that fight. You know, That's really what makes sense to
Speaker 3: me in my head. But like I said, Canello could
Speaker 3: do whatever he wants. You know, I'm I'm chasing my dreams.
Speaker 3: You know, my dreams are unifying the world's world championships,
Speaker 3: the world titles. Dmitri Beeble has that. So if whenever
Speaker 3: he fights him and arts are better be it. You know,
Speaker 3: whoever gets whoever wins that fight. You know, I'm definitely
Speaker 3: going to be pursuing a fight with that with that
Speaker 3: person to unify the belts.
Speaker 2: Which makes a lot of sense because you're the mandatory
Speaker 2: and they're the two biggest names, and honestly, if you
Speaker 2: take a look beyond the two of those guys, and
Speaker 2: then there's yourself. Of course, there's not a lot beyond
Speaker 2: that in terms of true depth in the division, and
Speaker 2: so hopefully at some point we'll see those fights. But
Speaker 2: one thing I'm interested beyond that is, and you've said this,
Speaker 2: I think in the past that at some point David
Speaker 2: Benavidez is going to be a cruiserweight down the road.
Speaker 2: I found with interest that recently when Oscar de la
Speaker 2: Hoya promoted his card in between Virgil Artis when he
Speaker 2: had his fight against ericson Lubin. They did an interview
Speaker 2: with him during the dizone broadcast and he was talking about,
Speaker 2: you know, the return of from injury of the unified
Speaker 2: cruiserweight title holder Zerto Ramirez that he promotes, and they
Speaker 2: were talking up the prospect of when he comes back,
Speaker 2: would he do a you know, a big cruiserweight fight
Speaker 2: against ji Opataia, who was of course the IBF and
Speaker 2: the lineal champion. And Oscar said, yeah, we'd love to
Speaker 2: make that fight. But Denny said, I got another idea.
Speaker 2: He said, what would you think about Zerto Ramerez against
Speaker 2: David Benavidez. And I was like, yeah, that's the hell
Speaker 2: of a fight. Is your future? I know you got
Speaker 2: stuff to accomplish that light heavyweight or as you said,
Speaker 2: in your prime but in the maybe not too distant future,
Speaker 2: does cruiserweight beckon and what are your thoughts about those
Speaker 2: fights that were mentioned, whether it's Opataia Zerto all Mexican
Speaker 2: kind of battle.
Speaker 4: To be honest with you, I think it's very clear
Speaker 4: that I've been trying to achieve great and this no
Speaker 4: matter of what weight class on that. So right now,
Speaker 4: I got my fight with Anthony Yard, But if I'm
Speaker 4: able to get a fight with Zula Ramirez my next fight,
Speaker 4: then that's the route I'm I'm gonna take, you know.
Speaker 3: Like I said, I want to be an all time
Speaker 3: great by the time my career is finished. And I
Speaker 3: feel like if we can make the fight with Ramirez
Speaker 3: happen next and I definitely take that fight, you know,
Speaker 3: and then after that we'll see what comes, you know
Speaker 3: what I mean.
Speaker 1: But I'm ready presented itself.
Speaker 3: A fight well over Tile would be a great fight,
Speaker 3: But like I said, I'd want to get my feet
Speaker 3: wet at the cruiserweight division first, because in my opinion,
Speaker 3: over Title is the strongest fighter at cruiserweight. So if
Speaker 3: I could get a fight with Suda Ramirez then come
Speaker 3: back down and when and when the unify the titles
Speaker 3: in one seventy five, I would definitely go back up
Speaker 3: to cruiseweight and fight over the title.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of.
Speaker 3: Great fights, you know, I said, We're we're in a
Speaker 3: great position right now where there's so much good fights.
Speaker 3: All I gotta do is continue winning, continue doing my part.
Speaker 3: And but I will, like I said, I'm a man
Speaker 3: of my word. I'm gonna give my fans the best
Speaker 3: fights possible. If I'm able to make these fights happen
Speaker 3: and negotiate a deal any of these champions, I am
Speaker 3: gonna take it well.
Speaker 1: I think fans would be loving.
Speaker 2: I love to hear that, and obviously it all starts
Speaker 2: in terms of that halfway. You got the big fight
Speaker 2: with Yard November twenty two on his own pay per view. David,
Speaker 2: thank you very much for your time, enjoying your time.
Speaker 2: You're on a business trip to Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 1: Good luck to you, Yes, sir, thank you