David Benavidez looks to finally become the 'face of boxing'
David Benavidez looks to finally become the 'face of boxing'
Josh Peter, USA TODAYFri, May 1, 2026 at 10:08 AM UTC
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David Benavidez looks to finally become the 'face of boxing'
LAS VEGAS -- David Benavidez, the boxer who Mike Tyson nicknamed the “Mexican Monster,’’ began his climb at more than 8,000 feet above sea level.
It was early April when he and his entourage drove to Mount Charleston, which at nearly 12,000 feet is the highest peak in Southern Nevada.
Benavidez, 29, wore camouflage pants, a black hoodie and the look of determination as he sprinted and walked up the steep, asphalt road.
A two-time world champion, Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) was training for his fight against WBA and WBC cruiserweight champion Gilberto "Zurdo'' Ramirez (48-1 30 KOs) Saturday, May 2 at T-Mobile Arena (PBC Pay-Per-View on Prime Video). It figures to be the biggest fight of Benavidez’s career, but unlikely to be tougher than a lifetime of training under the direction of his father.
“The first time he put me in a sparring session, I was like two years old,’’ Benavidez said of an encounter that has been ingrained in him from a young age. “The first round, I was crying and I came back to the corner and I told my dad, ‘I don't want to do this no more.’
“He said, "Okay, let me tell you something. I'm going to leave you in there. It's your choice whether you defend yourself or not.’ So very early on in the world, I've learned that there's nobody coming to save you in whatever situation it is. As a man, you have to figure out whatever situation is and you have to be ready to adapt to whatever comes your way.”
Benavidez's father, Jose Benavidez Sr., said the debut took place at a kickboxing event and, even though David Benavidez was almost 3, "he could barely walk.''
The face of boxing?
On Sept. 8, 2017, David Benavidez fought Ronald Gavril of Romania with the vacant WBC super middleweight title at stake. Benavidez won by split decision and at age 20 became the youngest super middleweight champion in boxing history.
Almost a decade later, Benavidez has said he feels like he’s on the cusp of becoming “the face of boxing.’’ He already earned the catchy nickname from Tyson, who was clearly impressed by the punching power and relentlessness of the "Mexican Monster."
So, with Canelo Alvarez having lost to Terence Crawford in September, with Crawford having retired after the fight, and with heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk preparing for a novelty fight at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, it's as good a time as any for the likes of Benavidez to throw his hat into the ring.
Of course, his face would be better known if not for the fight that has eluded him. For five years, Canelo Alvarez avoided or ducked Benavidez.
In a rich stroke of scheduling, Benavidez will be fighting Ramirez on Cinco de Mayo weekend, a date traditionally reserved for boxing greats like Alvarez.
“I think there comes a fighter every generation to take over those dates,’’ Benavidez said, referring to himself.
(Alvarez passed on Cinco de Mayo weekend after losing to Crawford in September and opting for a one-year layoff before his next fight.)
The stage will give Benavidez the opportunity to show how his power, speed, and relentless pressure translate as he moves up to the 200-pound cruiserweight division from the 175-pound lightweight division.
“Benavidez is a trainer's dream because he has no quit in him,’’ boxing historian Mike Silver told USA TODAY Sports.
They had no childhood
Born in Mexico, Benavidez’s father, Jose Benavidez, Sr., said he was sexually and physically abused.
As a teenager, he moved to the United States and had his first son, Jose Benavidez Jr., when he was 16. He had his second son, David, three years later and said he taught the boys how to box so they could protect themselves from the type of people who preyed on him.
David Benavidez said he was traumatized by the trying.
“I think my first mountain run, I was 4,’’ David Benavidez said.
Christmas. Easter. Birthdays. When it came to boxing, there were no days off.
Jose Benavidez said the time he spent training his sons contributed to his divorce from their mother.
“I wasn’t attentive,’’ he said. “I wasn't a good husband, I think. So I don't blame her for everything because my whole focus was on (his sons) and I forgot about her.’’
He did not forget about his young boxers.
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At 14 and 15, David Benavidez said, he was sparring with champions such as Gennady Golovkin and Peter Quillen at Wild Card Boxing gym in Los Angeles. Golovkin's former trainer, Abel Sanchez, and Quillen confirmed it.
“My father raised me really hard, but at the end of the day, that's what made me who I am today,’’ David Benavidez said. “That's why I could look at any world champion and tell them, ‘I'm better than you and I'm going to take your belt.”
Jose Benavidez Jr., better known as "Junior,'' won the WBA interim lightweight title in 2014. Two years later, David Benavidez won the WBC super middleweight title.
“They had no childhood,’’ Jose Benavidez Sr. said. “I took their childhood away.
“Thank God they became world champions. Otherwise, I would be drinking or doing drugs because at one point I felt really miserable, very guilty.’’
Making the wrong decisions
For David Benavidez, his climb up the ranks of boxing has been marked by success and struggle.
He was left behind with his mother when he was 13, after his father and brother moved from Arizona to Los Angeles to train at Wild Card Boxing. Junior, then 17, had signed a pro contract with Top Rank.
“I'm like, oh, wow, I could just do whatever I want,’’ David Benavidez told USA TODAY Sports. “And what I wanted to do was eat Taco Bell and Jack in the Box four times a day, so I did that for a whole year.
“Then one day I walked in the bathroom and I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t know who I was.’’
Junior drove back to Arizona, brought David Benavidez to Los Angeles, and David Benavidez Jr. resumed training and began to shed weight.
In 2020, Benavidez weighed in almost three pounds over the 168-pound limit before his fight against Roamer Alexis Angulo. The WBC stripped him of his super middleweight belt. He has not failed to make weight again.
The other serious public setback came in 2018, when David Benavidez tested positive for cocaine, prompting the WBC to strip him of his title belt and suspend him for four months.
At the time, David Benavidez said he was struggling in part because his brother had been shot in the leg in 2017.
“I had got into drinking at a young age and so I had always been drinking and stuff,’’ David Benavidez told USA TODAY Sports. “But then my brother ended up getting shot and my uncle ended up dying three weeks before my first world title fight. It was just a lot of things weighing heavy. I’m still dealing with all this stuff.’’
But now, Benavidez said, he has embraced prayer and meditation as ways to cope with stress.
“I was just tired of waking up hungover,’’ he said. “I was tired of making the wrong decisions.’’
That fighting spirit
The afternoon after the run at Mount Charleston, Benavidez arrived at a local gym with his fiancée, Karina, and their three young children.
He flashed a smile while working with his son, 5-year-old Anthony. His baby blue boxing gloves are emblazoned with his own nickname.
Baby Monster.
About two years ago, David Benavidez left the community where his father lives in Seattle and bought a house in Miami. That led to a six-month period in which the two men didn’t talk.
“I think it was a lot of resentment from when I was a little kid, you know what I mean?’’ David Benavidez said. “Most of that, that stuff never goes away until you actually forgive it.’’
They are working together yet again amid David Benavidez’s quest to become the face of boxing. He said it’s something that must be earned and requires something he discovered about himself when his father refused to let him out of his first fight.
“The thing I always had in me was that spirit,’’ David Benavidez said, “that fighting spirit.’’
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: David Benavidez seeks boxing fame without Canelo Alvarez
Source: “AOL Sports”
