By Norm Frauenheim-
Jose Benavidez Jr. was something of a prodigy. He was a 16-year-old national champion, the youngest ever in a Golden Gloves’ history that is a lot longer than any acronym. He started at the top, a mixed blessing.
A lot since then has been a chase to fulfill expectations, a long fight to prove that the initial promise was real.
He’s been engaged in that fight, one way or another, for most of the 14 years since the teenager from the streets of west Phoenix won that Golden Gloves title. It’s been hit, miss and messy. It’s an old story. Prodigies come, go, come back and then vanish. The burden of proof is hard to beat. Think of Francisco Bojado. Think of Frankie Gomez, who beat Benavidez as an amateur before disappearing in 2016 after going 21-0 as a pro.
But the fight goes on for Benavidez, now a 30-year-old father of three daughters and just days from facing Danny Garcia on July 30 at Barclays In Brooklyn in a junior-middleweight bout that puts both at a career crossroads.
For the accomplished Garcia, it’s about coming back at a new weight, this time in an attempt to eventually become a three-time division champion.
For Benavidez, the stakes are clearer by multiples that add up to a sense of urgency. He’s fighting to prove he still belongs. The Showtime-televised date comes with a binary question. To wit: Still a contender, or just a tune-up?
The tune-up role has already been suggested, both in on-line media and by Garcia’s dad and trainer, Angel, who has never been shy.
“Jose Benavidez Jr. is not a skillful fighter,’’ Angel said Wednesday during a media workout in Philadelphia. “He can’t fight going backwards.
“He doesn’t have any skill.’’
“He doesn’t dip. He doesn’t slip. He doesn’t duck hits. He just comes forward, I guess. I don’t know what they’re teaching him. I teach perfection. I don’t teach just going in and getting beat up.’’
After more than a decade in the noisy pro game, Benavidez has heard it all. Said it all, too. Trash talk is just another lousy punch. Angel Garcia’s rip of Benavidez’ skill level, however, was a surprise. It was the very execution of skill that made Benavidez look like the best of a new generation in 2008. It was exemplified by the delivery of a long, precise jab.
Benavidez wasn’t angry at Angel Garcia’s rip. It would have been a surprise only if Angel Garcia had not said something intended to annoy or disrupt. He’s known for the pre-fight tactic. Good at it, too. But Benavidez didn’t take the bait.
Benavidez would only say that a forgotten prodigy’s skill will be there opening bell. He’s not intimidated by either Angel Garcia’s blunt rhetoric or Danny Garcia’s signature left hook.
“Like Angel said about me, I don’t see anything special about Danny, either,’’ Benavidez told 15 Rounds Thursday in his own counter during a media day from his dad’s gym in Seattle.
Benavidez said it in an understated tone. In part, perhaps, he knew not to get into a shouting contest with a master of the bottom-feeding art-form. But there was also a sense of confidence in Benavidez’ response. His career has taken unforeseen turns since the Golden Gloves peak. He won a fringe junior-welterweight title and appeared to be enroute to bigger ones. Then, however, he was shot in the knee on a Phoenix canal bank in August 2016. It looked as if his career was finished.
It’s a stretch to say that Benavidez had to learn how to walk all over again before he could fight once more. Still, it’s a pretty good way to describe what he’s trying to accomplish against Garcia, a 2-to-1 favorite.
Benavidez’ record since the shooting is hard to judge. The Pandemic is a further complication. He’s fought only four times since February 2018. In his last two dates, he looked like two different fighters.
Last November on a card featuring his younger brother and emerging super-middleweight star David Benavidez, Jose tried to bully Francisco Torres, an unknown Argentine, into submission. The fundamentals to his prodigious beginning were forgotten. He paid with a controversial draw booed by a hometown crowd in downtown Phoenix.
Three years earlier, however, the defining skills of a celebrated teenager were still there against Terence Crawford, feared then and feared now. Crawford, known for his ring smarts, was cautious throughout the fight. He finally finished Benavidez with 18 seconds left in a 12-round bout in front of a wild, pro-Crawford crowd in Omaha, his hometown.
Since then, the bout has been called Crawford’s toughest. Shawn Porter said repeatedly that it was the one fight he studied before his own loss to Crawford last November. Crawford, himself, says his toughest fight was a ninth-round TKO over Australian Jeff Horn.
Fair enough.
Fair, too, to also assume that Crawford, still No. 1 in many current pound-for-pound ratings, would never characterize his stoppage of Benavidez as a tune-up.
Benavidez suggests that Angel Garcia’s dismissive scouting report is based on what he saw of him against Torres. He further suggests that Garcia will see more of the fighter who challenged Crawford. He’s as blunt as Angel Garcia when asked about his performance against Torres.
“Trash,’’ said Benavidez, who has seen and heard enough of it throughout his many-layered career to know he’s had enough of it.
