Jose Benavidez Jr.’s apprenticeship will move on to another stage, from patient prospect to potential contender, if he can get through a test Saturday at Tucson’s Casino del Sol that is critical and perhaps necessary in the development of the 20-year-old junior-welterweight.
Benavidez (14-0, 12 KOs) is coming off surgery for a troublesome right wrist that forced him out of a couple of fights and gave him a hint at what he can expect. The Phoenix fighter has yet to encounter much adversity from the opposite corner, although that surely awaits him if he fulfills all that has been forecast. But surgery creates its own adversity. It leaves a scar and sometimes questions.
Questions might be there are at opening bell at Casino del Sol’s outdoor area on TV Azteca against Joshua Sosa (10-2, 5 KOs) of Leavenworth, Kan., on an eight-fight card (6 p.m. first bell) featuring junior-middleweight Jesus Soto Karass (24-7, 16 KOs) of Mexico against Said El Harrack (10-1-1, 5 KOs) of Henderson, Nev. Benavidez father and trainer, Jose Benavidez Sr., is confident his son will answer in a fashion that will leave only the scar.
The wrist, he says, has withstood long hours of pounding mitts, speed bags, heavy bags and sparring partners at trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif., and Central Boxing in Phoenix.
There were some predictably tentative moments in the early going. The senior Benavidez could see it. His son would wince.
But five days before Benavidez’s first fight since a victory in November on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao’s controversial decision over Juan Manuel Marquez, that wince was gone, replaced by confidence.
“We were working the mitts,’’ Jose Sr. “The first time he hits the mitts with the right hand, I looked up into his face. There was no expression. He just kept on working. Then, he sparred eight, nine rounds. He’s ready to go. Everything is good.’’
Jose Benavidez Sr. works to balance the various, sometimes conflicting tasks that go into being a dad and his son’s trainer. It’s not easy. Many fail to separate emotions from business. But there have been dads and sons who have managed, including retired welterweight and middleweight champion Felix Trinidad and his father, Felix Trinidad Sr. The senior Benavidez has tried to learn by quietly watching others.
His son turned 20 on May 15. That’s the good news. Somebody who was 19 just a month ago has a short memory for surgery that happened in January. Concern is for old guys. That’s his dad, CEO of the family business.
Jose Benavidez Sr. looks at the rest of 2012 and sees a year in which his son is going to have to further prove himself to Top Rank, which signed him as a 17-year-old.
“I’m sure there are some doubts in a lot people’s minds,’’ said Jose Sr., who hopes a first or second-round stoppage without further trouble to the right wrist will put his son into a bout on the June 9 undercard of Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand. “That’s just the way the business is. Over the next year, the level of competition will be stepped up. He’s ready for that. But we have to show improvement.
“Right now, it’s about how you win.’’
Bute might have to steal one in Nottingham
Lucian Bute might have to be a modern-day Robin Hood to steal a victory Saturday in Nottingham, England, from Carl Froch in an EPIX-televised super-middleweight bout.
Bute has the title — the International Boxing Federation’s version, but few advantages in going to Froch’s hometown. Bute, a Romanian living in Canada, tried to duplicate the expected atmosphere by even training while listening to a tape of crowd noise that included the voice of Froch’s wife.
Meanwhile Froch, who lost to Andre Ward in his last bout, has been predictably forthright and confident. Bute, he says, is out of his league.
“We’re going to find out if he’s good enough to fight at the next level,’’ Froch (28-2, 20 KOs) said in a shot at Bute’s unbeaten record (30-0, 24 KOs) during an international conference call. “Lucian Bute, on paper, is overrated.’’
Notes, Quotes
· During a conference call with Pacquiao, Top Rank’s Bob Arum said he doesn’t believe that Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto are drug cheats. Both have tested positive. Arum asked for further research before a rush to judgment. “Unless everybody sits down and works through this, we’ll have chaos,’’ he said.
· And Antonio Tarver started slowly and picked up steam in an angry rant directed at Lateef Kayode during a conference call for their Showtime-televised cruiserweight bout on June 2 in Carson, Calif. Apparently, Kayode is upset that Tarver criticized him while working as a TV analyst. “”He told me what’s he’s going to do me when he sees me in the street,’’ said Tarver, who promises to break down Kayode. “This man has threatened me.’’
