By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS –David Benavidez promised.
And he punished.
He did to Demetrius Andrade what he did to David Lemieux and so many others. It was another moment in his demolition tour, an uninterrupted dominance of every super-middleweight other than the one he has been pursuing for so long.It was also another edition of the long-running message he has been delivering like punches at a machine-gun rate.
“Canelo, give the people the fight they want, Canelo Alvarez-versus-David Benavidez,” he said in the center of the ring to a roaring crowd just minutes after breaking down and breaking apart Andrade.
Who knows if Canelo was in the audience for Showtime’s final pay-per-view fight Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena? If he was, however, he had to be impressed.
Andrade, unorthodox and unbeaten before opening bell, was simply undone by the aggressive Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), who knocked him down with right hand in the fourth round and then battered him through the next two rounds. There are few fighters with Benavidez kind of momentum.
Once he gets going, he’s a freight train rolling down a steep incline. Get the hell of his way. Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) couldn’t. After six rounds, he had no option other than surrender.
At ringside, there was Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight great who gave Benavidez his current nickname, The Monster.
Benavidez, who emerges as the World Boxing Council’s mandatory challenger to Canelo, went over and hugged him, perhaps an embrace between the modern version of the monster Tyson once was.
“I’m the best and I’m going to be the best,” Benavidez told a crowd full of his fans from Phoenix, his hometown. “i’m going to be a legend.”
Tyson smiled.
Andrade didn’t argue.
No telling what Canelo thought
Charlo scores one-sided decision over Jose Benavidez
It was a fight preceded by insults, broken promises and fines.
But the profanity didn’t matter. The broken promises were followed by fines. The fight went on after one fighter, Jermall Charlo, paid $75,000 for every pound heavier than a contracted catchweight.
After all of that, it was a fight that went the way it was expected to. Chaos was the prediction. But there was none.
A bigger man beat a smaller man.
Charlo, a middleweight champion who hasn’t made a title defense in 29 months, beat Jose Benavidez Jr., a former junior-welterweight and welterweight contender.
Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) scored a unanimous decision. Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena. Argue with the score cards. The margins might have been too wide. The judges had it 98-92, 99-91 and 100-90. The third card, a shutout, seemed unfair to Benavidez (28-3-1, 19 KOs) who was never off his feet and appeared to make a competitive fight out of the early rounds.
But in the end, he simply wasn’t going to beat a fighter who was at least 15 pounds heavier. Charlo’s weight at opening bell wasn’t announced. He was ordered to be no more than 176 pounds at a secondary weigh-in Saturday morning, about 24 hours after he failed to make the 163-pound catch weight. Anything more than 176 pounds, would have cost him at least another $75,0000 per pound.
Whatever the final toll, he left the ring with his wallet a lot lighter. But that didn’t weaken his leverage-per-pound against a fighter who was simply too small to be in the ring with him.
Charlo knew that. After the scores were announced, he sounded more relieved than happy.
“Thank God, both of us are going home to our families healthy,” he said.
Benavidez, never a man with nothing to say before the fight, left the ring without a word.
After a long 10 rounds, maybe there just wasn’t anything left to say. He was out of answers. Maybe, energy, too.
Later, during an interview from his dressing room, he had this to say:
“He’s a good fighter, I’m not going to make any excuses. I came to fight. He said he was going to back me up and I didn’t back up. I kept coming forward. The best man won tonight.
“It’s boxing. I thought it was way closer than the judges’ said it was. At the end of the day I lost, and I’m not going to make any excuses.
“I don’t know if his extra weight had anything to do with it. Maybe. Maybe not. I came prepared. I gave my best. I’m going to take some time off – it’s the holidays. Of course, I’d like to run it back at the actual weight. At 160. If you weigh me right now I’m probably 165, and he still can’t do s— to me. It’s all good. I’m not worried about it. I gave it my all, and I came up short.”
Benavidez, ever fearless, opened the bout with abundant energy. He landed a straight right hand that bounced off Charlo’s face like a wicked tennis ball. It echoed throughout the arena. Benavidez also moved stubbornly forward, backing Charlo into the ropes and then into his corner. It was then, however, that Charlo answered with a flash of power, delivered like a pointed message from his bigger, stronger body.
Benavidez backed off. But his retreat didn’t go far. Didn’t last long either.
In the second and third, he continued his march into harm’s way, straight into Charlo’s dangerous wheelhouse. Charlo would throw a punch; Benavidez would counter with combos. The crowd roared. There was a chorus of chants.
Benavidez, Benavidez, was the lyric from fans who had traveled to Vegas from Phoenix, his hometown.
Jose, Jose.
Benavidez continued to give them hope with more combos and repeated bursts of energy. Increasingly, however, there were signs that the bigger blows from Charlo were beginning to have an impact.
In the seventh, Benavidez’ face bore the reddening signs of a bruising impact from Charlo’s punches. In the eighth, there were fewer combos from Benavidez. His hands began to drop. His chances began to diminish. It looked as if an energy crisis loomed. In the tenth, it landed, leaving with one more loss in his record and probably a purse fattened by a percentage of the fines paid by Charlo.
Matias Retains Title with 6th Round Stoppage
Subtriel Matias is in the quitting business. Business is very good.
It continued uninterrupted and seemingly unstoppable Saturday,when Matias, the International Boxing Federation’s junior-welterweight champion, forced a fifth straight opponent to surrender Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
This time, it was a wiry-like fighter from Uzbekistan, Shohjahom Ergashev.
Matias (20-1, 20 KOs), of Puerto Rico, endured his punches early and then exhausted him with his own, forcing his corner to say no-mas a couple of seconds after the bell sounded for the start of the sixth round.
Matias’ stubborn power, he said, is a result of the work his team has done. It’s also a result of patience followed by wild bursts of energy. Ergashev (23-1, 20 KOs) simply could not slow him down.
Lamont Roach wins junior-lightweight crown
Wait and worry has been a story line to Lamont Roach’s career.
The story ended Saturday night.
He can quit waiting. For now, he can quit worrying.
Roach (24-1-1, 9 KOs) won, finally calming a junior-lightweight world title, with a split decision over Hector Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs) in a Showtime pay-per-view bout on the card featuring David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
In an otherwise close bout, Roach took control in the final two rounds, knocking Garcia into the ropes with a piston-like punch in the eleventh and then scoring a debatable knockdown in the twelfth with a left to the back of Gracia’s head.
“I think I did enough,” said Roach, of Upper Marlboro MD, a winner on two scorecards, 116-111 and 114-113. “He played kind of a cat-and-mouse game .’
Garcia, who was favored 114-113 on the third card, said he accepted the judging.
“I thought I won,” he said. “But they counted it as a knockdown in the twelfth. He hit me in the back of the head. Without that, it would have been different.”
Mercado scores junior-welterweight shutout
Mercado scores junior-welterweight shutoutFrom precision to poise, Israel Mercado had it all.
He used it all, too, scoring a four-round shutout of Wesley Rivers Saturday night on the non-televised portion of the the Benavidez-Andrade fight at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.
Mercado (10-1-1, 8 KOs), a junior-welterweight from Pomona CA, scored at will from several angles in a one-sided decision over Rivers (4-4), of Dearborn Heights MI.
First-time winner
It wasn’t easy, but Alenn Medina finally moved into the win column.
Medina (1-1), a welterweight from Las Vegas, had just enough of an edge in aggression to get a majority decision over Alex Holley (1-1), a Dallas fighter who landed in the loss column for the first time.
In the fourth fight of the night Michel “Salsa Ali” Rivera 24-1 (14KOs) of Miami, FL took on Sergey Lipinets 17-2-1(13KOs) fighting out of Woodlands CA. The action began with Rivera establishing his Jab and keeping Lipinets off balance. Jabbing continued through the round and not much action from Lipinets. Sergey stepped it up in the second round as both fighters picked it up with the volume of punches. The third did not see too much of anything, just a warning from the referee about holding and hitting behind the head area.
In the fourth — just as Rivera landed a stunning right — Lipinets came back in his own right, landing a good left just as the round ended. Rivera once again wobbled his opponent. The fifth of the scheduled 10 was arguably the best round of the fight. Each fighter seemed to hurt one another — Lipinets with lefts and Rivera with rights.
As the fight went into the later rounds the pace slowed. Few meaningful punches landed. The fight went all 10 rounds and was a good showcase for Rivera. Rivera went on to win the unanimous decision — 97-93, 97-93, 96-94. Improving to 25-1 (14KOs)….By David Galaviz
Vito Mielnicki wins first round stoppage
Vito Mielnicki Jr. calls himself White Magic.
Saturday, he was White Lightning.
Mielnicki (16-1, 11 KOs) struck fast. Struck twice, all within the first round of the third bout Saturday on the Benavidez-Andrade card..
First, he dropped Alexis Salazar (25-6, 10 KOs), of Norwalk CA, with what looked like a glancing blow. Then, he struck with a head-rocking straight hand, finishing Salazar at 2:27 of the first round..
Jubin Chollet scores knockdown, wins split decision
It was timely, It was precise. It was the difference.
Jubin Chollet (9-0, 7 KOs), a lightweight from San Diego, needed a knockdown and he got one, flooring Jorge Perez (6-1, 2 KOs) with a beautifully-placed right hand in the fifth round of the second bout Saturday on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade card. It was just enough for Cholley to win a split decision. He won 57-56 on two cards. It was 57-56 for Perez on the third.
First Bell: Daniel Blancas scores unanimous decision
The show opened In an arena filled with only chilly November temperatures and echoes from punches from super-middleweight Daniel Blancas and Raiko Santana.
In the end, the loudest shots were landed by Blancas (8-0, 4 KOs), a long and lanky Milwaukee fighter who won a 76-75, 78-73, 77-74 decision over Raiko Santana in a Saturday matinee, the opener on a car featuring David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.
Blancas, who had Benavidez trainer Jose Benavidez in his corner, relied on his superior reach to keep Santana
(10-4, 6 KOs), of El Paso, at a distance.