By Ryan Maquiñana

Undefeated junior welterweight prospect Jose Benavidez Jr. had surgery on his right hand Tuesday and will be out for two months, per his father and co-manager, Jose Sr.

“The operation happened in Los Angeles, and Junior went with [co-manager] Steven Feder to the hospital,” said Benavidez Sr., who also trains his son.  “They did a CAT Scan and an MRI, and they found an extra bone in his hand.  They used a laser so they didn’t need to grind the bone.  They repaired the tendon, too, and everything went well.”

The 19-year-old Benavidez (14-0, 12 KOs) of Phoenix, Ariz., was taken the distance for only the second time in his career by Samuel Santana (4-5-2) on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez III undercard in November, but scored four knockdowns en route to the six-round victory.

“It turns out he’s been fighting with an extra bone in his hand this whole time and we didn’t know that,” Benavidez Sr. added.  “In Arizona last September (against Dedrick Bell), he was fighting with the left, with one hand, also.  It’s a good thing we’ve always worked on the jab.  I knew he could handle it.”

With Jose Jr. on the shelf for a while, his little brother David continues to develop under the tutelage of his father at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.

“David’s looking really good,” Benavidez Sr. said.  “He just turned 15 and he’s already 6’2’’.  He came down from 240 to 208 [pounds].  He’s really wanted to do this and so we’ve been throwing him in with pros for sparring.”

So far the teenager has traded leather with junior middleweights Robert ‘Amenaza’ Garcia, Michael Medina, and Nobuhiro Ishida, as well as heavyweight Joshua Landers.

“Junior’s amazing right now, but when he was David’s age, he didn’t have that same talent,” Benavidez Sr. said.  “A lot of people don’t believe me because I’m his father, but it’s true.  As far as the amateurs, he’s too big for the little kids, so when he turns 16 in December, he’ll be ready for the Open Division.”

Ryan Maquiñana has a weekly column for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (CSNBayArea.com). He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and Ring Magazine’s Ratings Advisory Panel. E-mail him at rmaquinana@gmail.com , check out his blog at www.maqdown.com , or follow him on Twitter: @RMaq28.