By: Sean Crose
He is brimming with confidence, perhaps justifiably so, with a record of 27 wins 0 losses. Jose Benavidez Jr didn’t get to beat Terence Crawford in front of his hometown Crawford audience that night in 2018, but the Arizonan was ready to shock the world. “I don’t think Crawford is as good as people say,” he said declared. “He is decent and not great. I came here to take him down at home. He’s in a bigger weight class now and we have a lot more firepower than we’ve ever had.”
Crawford proved he really is as good as everyone says when he and Benevidez competed at Omaha’s CHI Medical Center, costing the 26-year-old Benavidez an impressive career through injury time alone. boom. There’s probably no doubt that Benavidez even felt the Crawford uppercut kept him out in the 12th round. With that said, there’s no denying Benavidez proved to be a tough challenge for Crawford throughout the game. their fight. Crawford may have clearly proved to be the better man, as one might have expected, but it’s hard to say that Benavidez embarrassed himself. The match was definitely not dramatic. Unfortunately, Benavidez won’t be rematched for another three years – and when he returned to the ring last November, it was against Francisco Torres in a majority draw.
Now, however, Benavidez has a chance to really redeem himself and get his career back in the direction he wants. On Saturday night at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn, 30-year-old Benavidez will face former world player Danny Garcia as Philly’s hometown Garcia makes the jump to super heavyweight. Like Benavidez, Garcia is having a not-so-stellar streak. The 34-year-old has won just three of his last six matches and will be back in the ring this weekend without a fight for a year and a half.
That’s good news for Benavidez. The bad news is that Garcia is an experienced boxer who has had an impressive career of his own. Three loss that? They came from facing Errol Spence, Shawn Porter and Keith Thurman, all world-class boxers. Garcia also passed the likes of Amir Khan, Pauli Malignaggi, Zab Judah and Lucas Matthysse. In short, everyone will be surprised if Benavidez can bounce this weekend. Once again, however, Benavidez exuded confidence. “The winner of this war will be back on the map,” he says, “It will be the battle of the year, 100%.”
