By: Sean Crose
It must have been an exciting night of boxing, as outstanding super middleweight David Benavidez pitted his longtime rival David Lemieux at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona. The scheduled 12th round match will be for the WBC Interim World Super Middleweight belt and will be the main event of the Showtime tag which will begin broadcasting live at 10 p.m. ET. If anything, this fight should have entertainment value, as both of them know how to generate heat. Honestly, it’s not appropriate to engage in a boring war. On top of that, there’s a lot for the two of them to mean going into battle tonight.
Benavidez is a big boxer looking for a big fight. He’s wanted a piece of Canelo for a long time and certainly wouldn’t mind going up against Caleb Plant. However, he did not face a slight bump in Lemieux, a tough and fight-loving Canadian. If 2022 has shown us anything so far, it’s that fans should always be ready for the unexpected. With that in mind, however, Benavidez is clearly the favorite going into tonight’s game. Eight years younger, 2.5 inches taller, and perhaps even stronger than Lemieux makes it hard to bet against the Phoenix native.
However, Lemieux has something that Benavidez doesn’t – great combat experience. While the undefeated Benavidez has taken down all but three of his 25 opponents, Lemieux during his 43rd fighting career has faced the likes of Golovkin and Saunders. Furthermore, although the Montreal-based boxer has four losses on his record, those losses have all come from top names, happened more than a decade ago, or both. Such things are important, or at least they can certainly show up in the ring.
The last time Benavidez fought back was in November when he blocked Kyrone Davis for seven games. Lemieux last appeared almost a year ago, when he stopped David Zegarra two games in June (whether ring rust played a part in Lemieux’s performance tonight remains to be seen). In fact, this single battle will determine the future of each person’s career. A loss to Lemieux could do irreparable damage to the future prospects of the thirty-three year old ring. For twenty-five-year-old Benavidez, a loss would damage his reputation at a time when he wants to look almost indestructible for the big bucks. Every warrior has a lot of chances on this one.
