David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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Ben Davison has questioned whether Francis Ngannou has the stamina to be competitive over 10 rounds with Anthony Joshua.
They fight at heavyweight on Friday evening in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when Joshua will be the favourite but when the 37-year-old Ngannou, having exceeded expectations against Tyson Fury in October, will be expected to pose a significant threat.
Davison, who previously trained Fury, became Joshua’s trainer in the build-up to his stoppage victory in December over Otto Wallin, but was dismissive of the possibility of the 10 rounds Ngannou shared with Fury sufficiently improving his conditioning to cause an upset. When he referenced “the way ‘AJ’s’ going to approach the fight” he perhaps also hinted that Joshua will fight at a high pace and on the front foot.
“You have to take into consideration the way Ngannou’s going to approach the fight,” the trainer told DAZN. “My belief – all this about, ‘His conditioning’s better than ever; we now know he can do the 10 rounds’. I don’t buy that for one second.
“[It’s] totally different doing the rounds against AJ and the way he’s going to approach the fight than doing the rounds against Tyson the way he approached the fight. I believe especially if [Ngannou] comes out to set the pace himself, I don’t believe he’ll last the rounds.
“‘AJ’s’ a lot more versatile than Ngannou. He’s obviously an absolute physical specimen – his physicality brings a challenge by itself. But AJ’s also a physical specimen and that brings a challenge for Ngannou.
“All we’ve done is just helped him understand – we’re big on film study – what’s the likely reaction of the opponent in this situation. ‘When you do this, how is the opponent most likely to respond? How else might he respond?’ A lot of our work is based on scenarios. Now, with him having an understanding of how likely this scenario will come off of this, and we work on how to deal with that… the word we’re using at the moment is ‘clarity’.
“We’ve had a look at some of the MMA stuff – I don’t think it’s massively different. He’s not a reckless guy, but if he is reckless, all this about power – yes, of course he punches really hard, but so does AJ, and AJ’s sharper, so if he does wanna come in and be a little more gung-ho I believe that that fight could end quickly.
“We won’t go in there looking for it – forcing it. I’m just convinced he won’t be able to do the rounds with the way that AJ’s going to approach the fight.”
Davison regardless recognised that there remains an element of uncertainty about how Ngannou could approach Friday’s fight, not only on account of how different opponents Fury and the 34-year-old Joshua represent, but in the context of Ngannou having only ever boxed 10 rounds.
“That’s the only thing with only having one fight – that was his approach in that fight; he may make adjustments,” he continued. “We do have to have a look at that. Ngannou, yes he’s done some rounds with Tyson Fury, but he’s never done some rounds with Anthony Joshua, so he needs to have a look as well, because I’m confident he’s going to get a shock himself.
“All this about [Joshua’s] mentality – people look far too much into that. It’s a false narrative. He lost against Andy Ruiz; immediate rematch. He lost against [Oleksandr] Usyk; immediate rematch. That tells you a lot about someone’s mentality.”
There remains Wednesday’s final press conference and Thursday’s weigh-in before he enters the ring, but at Tuesday’s workouts Joshua said: “I’m here to fight. I’m here to fight. I wasn’t acknowledging [attention from fans]. With all due respect I’m just here to fight.
“Getting through my whole fight career, man. This is my life. Everything. Friday; Saturday; Sunday; Monday; Tuesday. Fight; fight; fight.”
Asked if he had a final message for his opponent – he regardless would also have been able to speak to Ngannou directly on Wednesday and Thursday – he responded: “Nothing whatsoever. Talk is cheap.”
“If people think I should be underestimated then it’s wrong,” Ngannou had said. “We are enjoying it. We’re having fun.
“I’m fully in command right now.”
