David Benavidez has finally found himself — and in…

MIAMI — David Benavidez’s eyes beam forward staring at the gym floor. He has blotted out the white noise of the rat-a-tat-tat of the speedbags, and the whomp, whomp, whomp of the heavy bags. For a moment, he is back there again. The picture in his mind surfaces of the kid with whom he will forever be tethered. The portly 13-year-old who was 5-foot-5, 260 pounds and had problems walking from here to there without trying to catch his breath. The kid who pretended not to notice when people turned in public to stare at him in the street or when some pointed.The sunlight may have stopped at his skin, but the taunts ran deep to his soul. It’s why Benavidez, the reigning WBC light heavyweight world champion, forever carries a mental picture of himself when he was 13.AdvertisementIt’s also why Anthony Yarde will be fighting two Benavidezes in his first WBC 175-pound title defense — the undefeated 6-foot-2 Benavidez and the “fat kid within”— this Saturday, headlining an eight-fight card from the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Benavidez’s Riyadh Season debut.This marks the third attempt by Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) to win a world title after being previously stopped in 2019 by Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight belt and in 2023 by Artur Beterbiev for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.The 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was upgraded to “full” WBC light heavyweight world champion in April, when the WBC’s then-light heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted to fight Beterbiev a third time rather than agree to the sanctioning body’s request and defend against Benavidez, who held the WBC’s interim title.AdvertisementIt was not exactly the way Benavidez wanted to win a title at 175 pounds.“I’m old-school, I would rather have won the title in the ring by beating Bivol,” Benavidez tells Uncrowned. “But I understand and respect Bivol for doing what he did and taking the third [Beterbiev] fight. I understand the business of boxing. It is not always right. Truthfully, knowing what I did to get here, I didn’t mind being moved to ‘full’ champion, [rather] than waiting like I did three years for Canelo Alvarez at 168. It was frustrating. I was the No. 1 contender in every sanctioning body, and I never got the fight with Canelo. I had to move to 175. I beat great fighters [Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell]. I earned this.”Terence Crawford took the undisputed 168-pound world championship from Alvarez by unanimous decision Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.If it were Benavidez in the ring that night with Alvarez, the outcome may have been swift, according to the current WBC light heavyweight champion.Advertisement“If that were me instead of Crawford, Canelo would have been destroyed that night,” Benavidez says. “It’s something that I had been telling people for a long, long time. The way Crawford handled Canelo, people saw what happened. If it were me, Canelo knows what would have happened to him, too. I have the light heavyweight division. Canelo avoided me for years, because I am a big fighter and accurate puncher, and he knows I am the hardest fight of his career. The tide has changed. I don’t have to wait for him anymore. He has no titles. I have the WBC title. Anyone who had doubts about me, well, they believe in me now.”David Benavidez battered David Morrell Jr. this past February in their Las Vegas showdown. (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)That was not always the case.Benavidez’s weakness was never a punch thrown at him. His was walking up to a McDonald’s counter and ordering the No. 1 Big Mac meal, sometimes two, with supersized fries and a vat of soda big enough to swim in.Advertisement“Every time I see that fat kid, that’s what gets me through the day,” he says. “It is what pushes me to succeed. I remember the teasing I used to get. When you’re 13 and fat, you’re vulnerable to everything. Words hurt. I hurt. That fat kid took a lot of grief. It’s why I carry a picture in my mind of the fat kid.“That fat kid always heard he would never be good at anything. I couldn’t get out of my own way. So, you have choices. Either you do something about it or go down a dark hole where you want no one to find you.”The 13-year-old Benavidez needed a little over a year to shed 90 pounds. By the time he was 16, when he turned pro in Mexico, he was down to around 170 pounds.Still, Benavidez admits he stared down the ledge of a few dark holes.AdvertisementIn September 2018, Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, losing his WBC super middleweight title. That David Benavidez and this David Benavidez are two different people, he points out. The first step he took, after a four-month suspension, was regain the WBC super middleweight title a year later by becoming the first man to ever stop Anthony Dirrell.The second — more major — step he took, he says, was finding a higher calling.“I don’t run away from mistakes,” says Benavidez, the proud father of three. “I had people around me growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, who were drug dealers, alcoholics, people I should not have been around. I was broken. But I also knew I was strong enough to walk away. I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol — I used it casually. It was my escape from reality. But I don’t hide from it. I grew from it. When I talk to kids, it’s why I bring up the mistakes I made, because if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be where I am. Everyone learns at different stages. I had to find God and my spirituality. I’m a completely different person than I was eight years ago. I own my mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them. I didn’t lose myself. I’ve been sober for the last eight years. Boxing and my family saved my life.“I have a responsibility now to be the best version of myself.”Anthony Yarde (pictured) challenges David Benavidez for the WBC light heavyweight title this Saturday. (Richard Pelham via Getty Images)As for Yarde, Benavidez promised a few new wrinkles in his game. He made sure to get into Riyadh early to adjust to the climate and the time difference.Advertisement“Yarde is a great fighter,” he says. “But I am only getting better and gaining more confidence. I feel I have a lot more levels to reach. I’m a boxing fanatic, and I have put new things into my style, and everyone will see it on Nov. 22. I know Yarde’s style, and once you attack Yarde with the jab, he gets stuck in time. I plan on working on my jab even more. I feel really confident. Yarde, I’ll admit, has good defense. He has good feints, good hooks. He’s going to come to fight. But I also know exactly how he’s going to come at me.“Seeing his style, with my game plan, I can counteract everything he does. Everyone is going to see a whole different animal against Anthony Yarde.”Benavidez said his goal is to fight possibly three times in 2026, aiming for the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 winner. With Crawford being 38, Alvarez 35, Bivol 34, Beterbiev 40 and Oleksandr Usyk 38, Benavidez has the potential to be the face of boxing over the next six years.“That’s the plan,” he says. “If the Bivol-Beterbiev winner is not there, I could fight [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez on May 5. First, I must take care of Anthony Yarde. I feel great. My weight is good. I’m getting an early start to Riyadh, and I love training camp. I love what I do. I want to do this for another 10 years. I want to keep showing people who I am. But part of me will always be the little fat kid inside. That part of me will never leave.”David Benavidez has finally found himself — and in doing so, finds himself among boxing’s best
MIAMI — David Benavidez’s eyes beam forward staring at the gym floor. He has blotted out the white noise of the rat-a-tat-tat of the speedbags, and the whomp, whomp, whomp of the heavy bags. For a moment, he is back there again. The picture in his mind surfaces of the kid with whom he will forever be tethered. The portly 13-year-old who was 5-foot-5, 260 pounds and had problems walking from here to there without trying to catch his breath. The kid who pretended not to notice when people turned in public to stare at him in the street or when some pointed.The sunlight may have stopped at his skin, but the taunts ran deep to his soul. It’s why Benavidez, the reigning WBC light heavyweight world champion, forever carries a mental picture of himself when he was 13.AdvertisementIt’s also why Anthony Yarde will be fighting two Benavidezes in his first WBC 175-pound title defense — the undefeated 6-foot-2 Benavidez and the “fat kid within”— this Saturday, headlining an eight-fight card from the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Benavidez’s Riyadh Season debut.This marks the third attempt by Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) to win a world title after being previously stopped in 2019 by Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight belt and in 2023 by Artur Beterbiev for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.The 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was upgraded to “full” WBC light heavyweight world champion in April, when the WBC’s then-light heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted to fight Beterbiev a third time rather than agree to the sanctioning body’s request and defend against Benavidez, who held the WBC’s interim title.AdvertisementIt was not exactly the way Benavidez wanted to win a title at 175 pounds.“I’m old-school, I would rather have won the title in the ring by beating Bivol,” Benavidez tells Uncrowned. “But I understand and respect Bivol for doing what he did and taking the third [Beterbiev] fight. I understand the business of boxing. It is not always right. Truthfully, knowing what I did to get here, I didn’t mind being moved to ‘full’ champion, [rather] than waiting like I did three years for Canelo Alvarez at 168. It was frustrating. I was the No. 1 contender in every sanctioning body, and I never got the fight with Canelo. I had to move to 175. I beat great fighters [Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell]. I earned this.”Terence Crawford took the undisputed 168-pound world championship from Alvarez by unanimous decision Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.If it were Benavidez in the ring that night with Alvarez, the outcome may have been swift, according to the current WBC light heavyweight champion.Advertisement“If that were me instead of Crawford, Canelo would have been destroyed that night,” Benavidez says. “It’s something that I had been telling people for a long, long time. The way Crawford handled Canelo, people saw what happened. If it were me, Canelo knows what would have happened to him, too. I have the light heavyweight division. Canelo avoided me for years, because I am a big fighter and accurate puncher, and he knows I am the hardest fight of his career. The tide has changed. I don’t have to wait for him anymore. He has no titles. I have the WBC title. Anyone who had doubts about me, well, they believe in me now.”David Benavidez battered David Morrell Jr. this past February in their Las Vegas showdown. (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)That was not always the case.Benavidez’s weakness was never a punch thrown at him. His was walking up to a McDonald’s counter and ordering the No. 1 Big Mac meal, sometimes two, with supersized fries and a vat of soda big enough to swim in.Advertisement“Every time I see that fat kid, that’s what gets me through the day,” he says. “It is what pushes me to succeed. I remember the teasing I used to get. When you’re 13 and fat, you’re vulnerable to everything. Words hurt. I hurt. That fat kid took a lot of grief. It’s why I carry a picture in my mind of the fat kid.“That fat kid always heard he would never be good at anything. I couldn’t get out of my own way. So, you have choices. Either you do something about it or go down a dark hole where you want no one to find you.”The 13-year-old Benavidez needed a little over a year to shed 90 pounds. By the time he was 16, when he turned pro in Mexico, he was down to around 170 pounds.Still, Benavidez admits he stared down the ledge of a few dark holes.AdvertisementIn September 2018, Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, losing his WBC super middleweight title. That David Benavidez and this David Benavidez are two different people, he points out. The first step he took, after a four-month suspension, was regain the WBC super middleweight title a year later by becoming the first man to ever stop Anthony Dirrell.The second — more major — step he took, he says, was finding a higher calling.“I don’t run away from mistakes,” says Benavidez, the proud father of three. “I had people around me growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, who were drug dealers, alcoholics, people I should not have been around. I was broken. But I also knew I was strong enough to walk away. I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol — I used it casually. It was my escape from reality. But I don’t hide from it. I grew from it. When I talk to kids, it’s why I bring up the mistakes I made, because if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be where I am. Everyone learns at different stages. I had to find God and my spirituality. I’m a completely different person than I was eight years ago. I own my mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them. I didn’t lose myself. I’ve been sober for the last eight years. Boxing and my family saved my life.“I have a responsibility now to be the best version of myself.”Anthony Yarde (pictured) challenges David Benavidez for the WBC light heavyweight title this Saturday. (Richard Pelham via Getty Images)As for Yarde, Benavidez promised a few new wrinkles in his game. He made sure to get into Riyadh early to adjust to the climate and the time difference.Advertisement“Yarde is a great fighter,” he says. “But I am only getting better and gaining more confidence. I feel I have a lot more levels to reach. I’m a boxing fanatic, and I have put new things into my style, and everyone will see it on Nov. 22. I know Yarde’s style, and once you attack Yarde with the jab, he gets stuck in time. I plan on working on my jab even more. I feel really confident. Yarde, I’ll admit, has good defense. He has good feints, good hooks. He’s going to come to fight. But I also know exactly how he’s going to come at me.“Seeing his style, with my game plan, I can counteract everything he does. Everyone is going to see a whole different animal against Anthony Yarde.”Benavidez said his goal is to fight possibly three times in 2026, aiming for the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 winner. With Crawford being 38, Alvarez 35, Bivol 34, Beterbiev 40 and Oleksandr Usyk 38, Benavidez has the potential to be the face of boxing over the next six years.“That’s the plan,” he says. “If the Bivol-Beterbiev winner is not there, I could fight [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez on May 5. First, I must take care of Anthony Yarde. I feel great. My weight is good. I’m getting an early start to Riyadh, and I love training camp. I love what I do. I want to do this for another 10 years. I want to keep showing people who I am. But part of me will always be the little fat kid inside. That part of me will never leave.”David Benavidez has finally found himself — and in doing so, finds himself among boxing’s best
MIAMI — David Benavidez’s eyes beam forward staring at the gym floor. He has blotted out the white noise of the rat-a-tat-tat of the speedbags, and the whomp, whomp, whomp of the heavy bags. For a moment, he is back there again. The picture in his mind surfaces of the kid with whom he will forever be tethered. The portly 13-year-old who was 5-foot-5, 260 pounds and had problems walking from here to there without trying to catch his breath. The kid who pretended not to notice when people turned in public to stare at him in the street or when some pointed.The sunlight may have stopped at his skin, but the taunts ran deep to his soul. It’s why Benavidez, the reigning WBC light heavyweight world champion, forever carries a mental picture of himself when he was 13.AdvertisementIt’s also why Anthony Yarde will be fighting two Benavidezes in his first WBC 175-pound title defense — the undefeated 6-foot-2 Benavidez and the “fat kid within”— this Saturday, headlining an eight-fight card from the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Benavidez’s Riyadh Season debut.This marks the third attempt by Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) to win a world title after being previously stopped in 2019 by Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight belt and in 2023 by Artur Beterbiev for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.The 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was upgraded to “full” WBC light heavyweight world champion in April, when the WBC’s then-light heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted to fight Beterbiev a third time rather than agree to the sanctioning body’s request and defend against Benavidez, who held the WBC’s interim title.AdvertisementIt was not exactly the way Benavidez wanted to win a title at 175 pounds.“I’m old-school, I would rather have won the title in the ring by beating Bivol,” Benavidez tells Uncrowned. “But I understand and respect Bivol for doing what he did and taking the third [Beterbiev] fight. I understand the business of boxing. It is not always right. Truthfully, knowing what I did to get here, I didn’t mind being moved to ‘full’ champion, [rather] than waiting like I did three years for Canelo Alvarez at 168. It was frustrating. I was the No. 1 contender in every sanctioning body, and I never got the fight with Canelo. I had to move to 175. I beat great fighters [Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell]. I earned this.”Terence Crawford took the undisputed 168-pound world championship from Alvarez by unanimous decision Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.If it were Benavidez in the ring that night with Alvarez, the outcome may have been swift, according to the current WBC light heavyweight champion.Advertisement“If that were me instead of Crawford, Canelo would have been destroyed that night,” Benavidez says. “It’s something that I had been telling people for a long, long time. The way Crawford handled Canelo, people saw what happened. If it were me, Canelo knows what would have happened to him, too. I have the light heavyweight division. Canelo avoided me for years, because I am a big fighter and accurate puncher, and he knows I am the hardest fight of his career. The tide has changed. I don’t have to wait for him anymore. He has no titles. I have the WBC title. Anyone who had doubts about me, well, they believe in me now.”David Benavidez battered David Morrell Jr. this past February in their Las Vegas showdown. (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)That was not always the case.Benavidez’s weakness was never a punch thrown at him. His was walking up to a McDonald’s counter and ordering the No. 1 Big Mac meal, sometimes two, with supersized fries and a vat of soda big enough to swim in.Advertisement“Every time I see that fat kid, that’s what gets me through the day,” he says. “It is what pushes me to succeed. I remember the teasing I used to get. When you’re 13 and fat, you’re vulnerable to everything. Words hurt. I hurt. That fat kid took a lot of grief. It’s why I carry a picture in my mind of the fat kid.“That fat kid always heard he would never be good at anything. I couldn’t get out of my own way. So, you have choices. Either you do something about it or go down a dark hole where you want no one to find you.”The 13-year-old Benavidez needed a little over a year to shed 90 pounds. By the time he was 16, when he turned pro in Mexico, he was down to around 170 pounds.Still, Benavidez admits he stared down the ledge of a few dark holes.AdvertisementIn September 2018, Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, losing his WBC super middleweight title. That David Benavidez and this David Benavidez are two different people, he points out. The first step he took, after a four-month suspension, was regain the WBC super middleweight title a year later by becoming the first man to ever stop Anthony Dirrell.The second — more major — step he took, he says, was finding a higher calling.“I don’t run away from mistakes,” says Benavidez, the proud father of three. “I had people around me growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, who were drug dealers, alcoholics, people I should not have been around. I was broken. But I also knew I was strong enough to walk away. I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol — I used it casually. It was my escape from reality. But I don’t hide from it. I grew from it. When I talk to kids, it’s why I bring up the mistakes I made, because if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be where I am. Everyone learns at different stages. I had to find God and my spirituality. I’m a completely different person than I was eight years ago. I own my mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them. I didn’t lose myself. I’ve been sober for the last eight years. Boxing and my family saved my life.“I have a responsibility now to be the best version of myself.”Anthony Yarde (pictured) challenges David Benavidez for the WBC light heavyweight title this Saturday. (Richard Pelham via Getty Images)As for Yarde, Benavidez promised a few new wrinkles in his game. He made sure to get into Riyadh early to adjust to the climate and the time difference.Advertisement“Yarde is a great fighter,” he says. “But I am only getting better and gaining more confidence. I feel I have a lot more levels to reach. I’m a boxing fanatic, and I have put new things into my style, and everyone will see it on Nov. 22. I know Yarde’s style, and once you attack Yarde with the jab, he gets stuck in time. I plan on working on my jab even more. I feel really confident. Yarde, I’ll admit, has good defense. He has good feints, good hooks. He’s going to come to fight. But I also know exactly how he’s going to come at me.“Seeing his style, with my game plan, I can counteract everything he does. Everyone is going to see a whole different animal against Anthony Yarde.”Benavidez said his goal is to fight possibly three times in 2026, aiming for the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 winner. With Crawford being 38, Alvarez 35, Bivol 34, Beterbiev 40 and Oleksandr Usyk 38, Benavidez has the potential to be the face of boxing over the next six years.“That’s the plan,” he says. “If the Bivol-Beterbiev winner is not there, I could fight [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez on May 5. First, I must take care of Anthony Yarde. I feel great. My weight is good. I’m getting an early start to Riyadh, and I love training camp. I love what I do. I want to do this for another 10 years. I want to keep showing people who I am. But part of me will always be the little fat kid inside. That part of me will never leave.”David Benavidez has finally found himself — and in doing so, finds himself among boxing’s best
MIAMI — David Benavidez’s eyes beam forward staring at the gym floor. He has blotted out the white noise of the rat-a-tat-tat of the speedbags, and the whomp, whomp, whomp of the heavy bags. For a moment, he is back there again. The picture in his mind surfaces of the kid with whom he will forever be tethered. The portly 13-year-old who was 5-foot-5, 260 pounds and had problems walking from here to there without trying to catch his breath. The kid who pretended not to notice when people turned in public to stare at him in the street or when some pointed.The sunlight may have stopped at his skin, but the taunts ran deep to his soul. It’s why Benavidez, the reigning WBC light heavyweight world champion, forever carries a mental picture of himself when he was 13.AdvertisementIt’s also why Anthony Yarde will be fighting two Benavidezes in his first WBC 175-pound title defense — the undefeated 6-foot-2 Benavidez and the “fat kid within”— this Saturday, headlining an eight-fight card from the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Benavidez’s Riyadh Season debut.This marks the third attempt by Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) to win a world title after being previously stopped in 2019 by Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight belt and in 2023 by Artur Beterbiev for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.The 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was upgraded to “full” WBC light heavyweight world champion in April, when the WBC’s then-light heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted to fight Beterbiev a third time rather than agree to the sanctioning body’s request and defend against Benavidez, who held the WBC’s interim title.AdvertisementIt was not exactly the way Benavidez wanted to win a title at 175 pounds.“I’m old-school, I would rather have won the title in the ring by beating Bivol,” Benavidez tells Uncrowned. “But I understand and respect Bivol for doing what he did and taking the third [Beterbiev] fight. I understand the business of boxing. It is not always right. Truthfully, knowing what I did to get here, I didn’t mind being moved to ‘full’ champion, [rather] than waiting like I did three years for Canelo Alvarez at 168. It was frustrating. I was the No. 1 contender in every sanctioning body, and I never got the fight with Canelo. I had to move to 175. I beat great fighters [Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell]. I earned this.”Terence Crawford took the undisputed 168-pound world championship from Alvarez by unanimous decision Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.If it were Benavidez in the ring that night with Alvarez, the outcome may have been swift, according to the current WBC light heavyweight champion.Advertisement“If that were me instead of Crawford, Canelo would have been destroyed that night,” Benavidez says. “It’s something that I had been telling people for a long, long time. The way Crawford handled Canelo, people saw what happened. If it were me, Canelo knows what would have happened to him, too. I have the light heavyweight division. Canelo avoided me for years, because I am a big fighter and accurate puncher, and he knows I am the hardest fight of his career. The tide has changed. I don’t have to wait for him anymore. He has no titles. I have the WBC title. Anyone who had doubts about me, well, they believe in me now.”David Benavidez battered David Morrell Jr. this past February in their Las Vegas showdown. (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)That was not always the case.Benavidez’s weakness was never a punch thrown at him. His was walking up to a McDonald’s counter and ordering the No. 1 Big Mac meal, sometimes two, with supersized fries and a vat of soda big enough to swim in.Advertisement“Every time I see that fat kid, that’s what gets me through the day,” he says. “It is what pushes me to succeed. I remember the teasing I used to get. When you’re 13 and fat, you’re vulnerable to everything. Words hurt. I hurt. That fat kid took a lot of grief. It’s why I carry a picture in my mind of the fat kid.“That fat kid always heard he would never be good at anything. I couldn’t get out of my own way. So, you have choices. Either you do something about it or go down a dark hole where you want no one to find you.”The 13-year-old Benavidez needed a little over a year to shed 90 pounds. By the time he was 16, when he turned pro in Mexico, he was down to around 170 pounds.Still, Benavidez admits he stared down the ledge of a few dark holes.AdvertisementIn September 2018, Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, losing his WBC super middleweight title. That David Benavidez and this David Benavidez are two different people, he points out. The first step he took, after a four-month suspension, was regain the WBC super middleweight title a year later by becoming the first man to ever stop Anthony Dirrell.The second — more major — step he took, he says, was finding a higher calling.“I don’t run away from mistakes,” says Benavidez, the proud father of three. “I had people around me growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, who were drug dealers, alcoholics, people I should not have been around. I was broken. But I also knew I was strong enough to walk away. I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol — I used it casually. It was my escape from reality. But I don’t hide from it. I grew from it. When I talk to kids, it’s why I bring up the mistakes I made, because if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be where I am. Everyone learns at different stages. I had to find God and my spirituality. I’m a completely different person than I was eight years ago. I own my mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them. I didn’t lose myself. I’ve been sober for the last eight years. Boxing and my family saved my life.“I have a responsibility now to be the best version of myself.”Anthony Yarde (pictured) challenges David Benavidez for the WBC light heavyweight title this Saturday. (Richard Pelham via Getty Images)As for Yarde, Benavidez promised a few new wrinkles in his game. He made sure to get into Riyadh early to adjust to the climate and the time difference.Advertisement“Yarde is a great fighter,” he says. “But I am only getting better and gaining more confidence. I feel I have a lot more levels to reach. I’m a boxing fanatic, and I have put new things into my style, and everyone will see it on Nov. 22. I know Yarde’s style, and once you attack Yarde with the jab, he gets stuck in time. I plan on working on my jab even more. I feel really confident. Yarde, I’ll admit, has good defense. He has good feints, good hooks. He’s going to come to fight. But I also know exactly how he’s going to come at me.“Seeing his style, with my game plan, I can counteract everything he does. Everyone is going to see a whole different animal against Anthony Yarde.”Benavidez said his goal is to fight possibly three times in 2026, aiming for the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 winner. With Crawford being 38, Alvarez 35, Bivol 34, Beterbiev 40 and Oleksandr Usyk 38, Benavidez has the potential to be the face of boxing over the next six years.“That’s the plan,” he says. “If the Bivol-Beterbiev winner is not there, I could fight [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez on May 5. First, I must take care of Anthony Yarde. I feel great. My weight is good. I’m getting an early start to Riyadh, and I love training camp. I love what I do. I want to do this for another 10 years. I want to keep showing people who I am. But part of me will always be the little fat kid inside. That part of me will never leave.”David Benavidez has finally found himself — and in doing so, finds himself among boxing’s best
MIAMI — David Benavidez’s eyes beam forward staring at the gym floor. He has blotted out the white noise of the rat-a-tat-tat of the speedbags, and the whomp, whomp, whomp of the heavy bags. For a moment, he is back there again. The picture in his mind surfaces of the kid with whom he will forever be tethered. The portly 13-year-old who was 5-foot-5, 260 pounds and had problems walking from here to there without trying to catch his breath. The kid who pretended not to notice when people turned in public to stare at him in the street or when some pointed.The sunlight may have stopped at his skin, but the taunts ran deep to his soul. It’s why Benavidez, the reigning WBC light heavyweight world champion, forever carries a mental picture of himself when he was 13.AdvertisementIt’s also why Anthony Yarde will be fighting two Benavidezes in his first WBC 175-pound title defense — the undefeated 6-foot-2 Benavidez and the “fat kid within”— this Saturday, headlining an eight-fight card from the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Benavidez’s Riyadh Season debut.This marks the third attempt by Yarde (27-3, 24 KOs) to win a world title after being previously stopped in 2019 by Sergey Kovalev for the WBO light heavyweight belt and in 2023 by Artur Beterbiev for the WBC, IBF and WBO titles.The 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) was upgraded to “full” WBC light heavyweight world champion in April, when the WBC’s then-light heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol, opted to fight Beterbiev a third time rather than agree to the sanctioning body’s request and defend against Benavidez, who held the WBC’s interim title.AdvertisementIt was not exactly the way Benavidez wanted to win a title at 175 pounds.“I’m old-school, I would rather have won the title in the ring by beating Bivol,” Benavidez tells Uncrowned. “But I understand and respect Bivol for doing what he did and taking the third [Beterbiev] fight. I understand the business of boxing. It is not always right. Truthfully, knowing what I did to get here, I didn’t mind being moved to ‘full’ champion, [rather] than waiting like I did three years for Canelo Alvarez at 168. It was frustrating. I was the No. 1 contender in every sanctioning body, and I never got the fight with Canelo. I had to move to 175. I beat great fighters [Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell]. I earned this.”Terence Crawford took the undisputed 168-pound world championship from Alvarez by unanimous decision Sept. 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.If it were Benavidez in the ring that night with Alvarez, the outcome may have been swift, according to the current WBC light heavyweight champion.Advertisement“If that were me instead of Crawford, Canelo would have been destroyed that night,” Benavidez says. “It’s something that I had been telling people for a long, long time. The way Crawford handled Canelo, people saw what happened. If it were me, Canelo knows what would have happened to him, too. I have the light heavyweight division. Canelo avoided me for years, because I am a big fighter and accurate puncher, and he knows I am the hardest fight of his career. The tide has changed. I don’t have to wait for him anymore. He has no titles. I have the WBC title. Anyone who had doubts about me, well, they believe in me now.”David Benavidez battered David Morrell Jr. this past February in their Las Vegas showdown. (Steve Marcus via Getty Images)That was not always the case.Benavidez’s weakness was never a punch thrown at him. His was walking up to a McDonald’s counter and ordering the No. 1 Big Mac meal, sometimes two, with supersized fries and a vat of soda big enough to swim in.Advertisement“Every time I see that fat kid, that’s what gets me through the day,” he says. “It is what pushes me to succeed. I remember the teasing I used to get. When you’re 13 and fat, you’re vulnerable to everything. Words hurt. I hurt. That fat kid took a lot of grief. It’s why I carry a picture in my mind of the fat kid.“That fat kid always heard he would never be good at anything. I couldn’t get out of my own way. So, you have choices. Either you do something about it or go down a dark hole where you want no one to find you.”The 13-year-old Benavidez needed a little over a year to shed 90 pounds. By the time he was 16, when he turned pro in Mexico, he was down to around 170 pounds.Still, Benavidez admits he stared down the ledge of a few dark holes.AdvertisementIn September 2018, Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, losing his WBC super middleweight title. That David Benavidez and this David Benavidez are two different people, he points out. The first step he took, after a four-month suspension, was regain the WBC super middleweight title a year later by becoming the first man to ever stop Anthony Dirrell.The second — more major — step he took, he says, was finding a higher calling.“I don’t run away from mistakes,” says Benavidez, the proud father of three. “I had people around me growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, who were drug dealers, alcoholics, people I should not have been around. I was broken. But I also knew I was strong enough to walk away. I was never addicted to drugs or alcohol — I used it casually. It was my escape from reality. But I don’t hide from it. I grew from it. When I talk to kids, it’s why I bring up the mistakes I made, because if I didn’t go through that, I wouldn’t be where I am. Everyone learns at different stages. I had to find God and my spirituality. I’m a completely different person than I was eight years ago. I own my mistakes, but I don’t dwell on them. I didn’t lose myself. I’ve been sober for the last eight years. Boxing and my family saved my life.“I have a responsibility now to be the best version of myself.”Anthony Yarde (pictured) challenges David Benavidez for the WBC light heavyweight title this Saturday. (Richard Pelham via Getty Images)As for Yarde, Benavidez promised a few new wrinkles in his game. He made sure to get into Riyadh early to adjust to the climate and the time difference.Advertisement“Yarde is a great fighter,” he says. “But I am only getting better and gaining more confidence. I feel I have a lot more levels to reach. I’m a boxing fanatic, and I have put new things into my style, and everyone will see it on Nov. 22. I know Yarde’s style, and once you attack Yarde with the jab, he gets stuck in time. I plan on working on my jab even more. I feel really confident. Yarde, I’ll admit, has good defense. He has good feints, good hooks. He’s going to come to fight. But I also know exactly how he’s going to come at me.“Seeing his style, with my game plan, I can counteract everything he does. Everyone is going to see a whole different animal against Anthony Yarde.”Benavidez said his goal is to fight possibly three times in 2026, aiming for the Bivol-Beterbiev 3 winner. With Crawford being 38, Alvarez 35, Bivol 34, Beterbiev 40 and Oleksandr Usyk 38, Benavidez has the potential to be the face of boxing over the next six years.“That’s the plan,” he says. “If the Bivol-Beterbiev winner is not there, I could fight [WBO/WBA cruiserweight world champion Gilberto] ‘Zurdo’ Ramírez on May 5. First, I must take care of Anthony Yarde. I feel great. My weight is good. I’m getting an early start to Riyadh, and I love training camp. I love what I do. I want to do this for another 10 years. I want to keep showing people who I am. But part of me will always be the little fat kid inside. That part of me will never leave.”

Анжелика Флёрко

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