By Norm Frauenheim –
LAS VEGAS – On stage and in front of the cameras, Jose Benavidez Sr. looks at his son and sees a nice guy.
David Benavidez smiles.
He’s polite.
He’s cooperative.
But there’s a transformation when he steps into a ring and through ropes that are often a dividing line between the well-mannered personality of a consummate pro and the angry edge of danger that appears like a sudden storm amid the confines of boxing’s regulated violence.
“When he steps into the ring he’s often somebody I don’t recognize,’’ said Jose Sr., also his son’s trainer.
On Saturday, the day before Father’s Day, the son that Jose Jr. raised to be a fighter is expected to express that edgy persona in a light-heavyweight debut he’s favored to win against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, an accomplished ex-champion.
“I’m just going to be David Benavidez,’’ the 27-year-old ex-super-middleweight champion said Thursday during a co-main event news conference for an Amazon Prime card featuring lightweights Tank Davis and Frank Martin at the MGM Grand. “I’m going to go in and look to knock him out.’’
Through his 28 fights, Benavidez has collected nicknames, only victories, 24 knockouts and a fearsome reputation. He has a mean streak.
Insightful trainer Stephen Breadman Edwards was the first to see it from the opposing corner, initially in a Benavidez stoppage of Kyrone Davis in November 2021 and again in a punishing Benavidez decision over Caleb Plant in March 2023.
Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach saw the early signs of it when Benavidez, a chubby kid in his mid-teens, showed up with his father and older brother, Jose Benavidez Jr. at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, Calif.
“Yeah, you could see it then,’’ Roach said in Phoenix, Benavidez’ hometown, before a Jaime Munguia victory over John Ryder in March. “In this business, a mean streak is a good thing to have.’’
It’s there, perhaps, because of the way his father raised him long before he ever walked into Central Boxing off the streets in downtown Phoenix.
“I was very hard on my sons,’’ Jose Sr. said. “I’ve changed in that way. I couldn’t do that anymore. But I was tough on them. That mean streak, maybe, is in David’s DNA.’’
There’s more to it than just that. There has to be, especially if Benavidez hopes to one day fight at heavyweight. The maturing Benavidez is working on ways to refine his skillset, his father says. He’s been ripped for a lack of footwork and defense.
“We’ve heard that,’’ his father said. “We know that. We’ve been working on it.’’
But that evident mean streak is there, fundamental to Benavidez’ ring persona. It’s instinctive, and it’s augmented by his abundant energy. Put the two together, and Benavidez has a rare extra gear. In the later rounds, it begins to kick in with a stubborn pursuit and punches thrown at a whirlwind rate. Andrade couldn’t stop it. Neither could Plant.
Now, Gvozdyk has a chance, perhaps a much better one than Andrade or Plant ever had.
“He’s a big fighter,’’ Gvozdyk said. “He was a huge super-middleweight.’’
At light-heavy, some advantages in size won’t be there for Benavidez. In a face-to-face stand-off for the cameras Thursday, Benavidez looked into the eyes of a taller opponent for perhaps the first time in his career.
Benavidez and Gvozdyk already know each other. They sparred about seven years ago in Oxnard, Calif. Then, however, Benavidez was only 20 years old, still figuring out that he liked to fight and had enough of a mean streak to do so at a very high level.
“He’s not that guy anymore,’’ Gvozdyk, an Olympic bronze medalist for the Ukraine and a roommate of undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk at the 2012 London Games. “I know that they call him The Monster. I’m a little bit skeptical about that.
“But there’s no doubt that he knows how to put the pressure on. I’ll have to deal with that. That means good footwork and movement. I’m just going to resist The Monster.’’
Gvozdyk would be the first be the first in a bout that could lead to a mandatory shot at the winner of the Dmitry Bivol-versus-Artur Beterbiev for the undisputed light-heavyweight title on Oct. 12.
“I’m going to be as dominant as I was in the super-middleweight division,’’ said Benavidez, who still hasn’t eliminated a possible showdown with undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez. “The better the competition, the better I’m going to be.’’
Maybe meaner, too.
