David Benavidez willing to go to 160 for Jermall Charlo!
In many aspects, super middleweight boxer David “Red Flag” Benavidez (24-0, 21 KO’s) is a throwback fighter, but most importantly his mentality is old school. As far as he is concerned, so long as you train hard and fight the best available competition, everything will work itself out. Following this creed, Benavidez has had his crosshairs on WBC World middleweight champion Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo (32-0, 22 KO’s) for well over a year. Their social media feud has been well documented and chronicled.
After initially boasting that he would jump up to Red Flag’s super middleweight homeland, Charlo quickly reneged and demanded that Benavidez must come down. At that point the bout appeared to officially be dead in the water with neither willing to budge. Now, it seems the former 168-pound champion has had a change of heart. Perhaps the holes he saw in the Hit Man’s during his last bout with Juan Montiel were enough to lure him down. This is what he explained to Little Giants Boxing.
“I felt like he was going to stop Montiel but that shows that its flaws in his game too. You know he is talking about everyone else has flaws, but he has flaws of his own. He got cut. He had a bad cut on the eye, so he got his own flaws to worry about too.
…If they talk about 160, I’ll probably try to go down to 160, if they really want 160. I just want my people to believe in me. I’m here to say I will fight whoever, whenever.”
ALL FOR THE LEGACY
Like all the boxers at the top of the super middleweight division, Benavidez would also love a showdown with unified 168-pound champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. In this regard, Red Flag looks at Charlo like he is a two-for-one deal. Not only is the Hit Man a great legacy fight all by himself, Benavidez is certain he could springboard from that victory straight into a bout with Canelo.
[when asked what his dream next fight would be] “This year, it would be Charlo because I know Canelo, he has his own thing. So I feel like I believe in myself, I bet on myself, I double-down on myself. I get Charlo, I beat him and then that fight with me and Canelo would be that much bigger! Could you imagine if I get past Charlo, if I stop him, how big would me and Canelo be? It would be big! So I know what I bring to the table and I know what I am capable of. So that is a dream set up for me.”
Pressure has been mounting for Charlo to face stiffer competition, so it will be interesting to see how the Hit Man responds to this new development. First however, Benavidez has to successfully get past Jose Uzcategui, who he’ll fight on August 28. Provided that Red Flag does defeat Uzcategui, it would be a great prizefight for him and the public if he can get Charlo next.
By: Bakari Simpson
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