Benavidez vs Lemieux Preview
The vacant interim WBC super-middleweight title will be on the line Saturday May 21st in Arizona. Former undefeated champion David Benavidez will battle former IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux for the title.
Benavidez is 25-0 with 22 KO and is coming off a 7th round TKO of Kyrone Davis last November. He is a two-time WBC super-middleweight champion having held the title from 2017-2018 and again from 2019 to 2020. The 25-year-old has lost the title twice without losing a fight and the last occurrence was after he did not make weight for his title defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo in 2020.
Benavidez does not plan on making the same mistake for this huge fight with Lemieux. “I just hit the weight yesterday and now everything is amazing. We took that stress off the table after four months of hard work. Now, I’m excited to go out there, fight for the title and give the fans a great fight,’ said Benavidez.
The former champion is confident heading into the fight on Saturday. “I definitely want to go out there and follow my gameplan. I don’t care [if the KO] comes in the first, second, fifth or 12th round. When it comes, it comes. I visualize everything I’m going to do in the ring.
Benavidez has key victories in his career over Anthony Dirrell, Ronald Gavril (twice), and Rogelio Medina. A win over Lemieux and a third title could potentially set him up for a fight with pound for pound great Canelo Alvarez.
Lemieux is riding five straight wins into this fight since losing to Billy Joe Saunders for the WBO middleweight title in 2017. He most recently defeated David Zegarra by second round TKO last June. He won the IBF middleweight title in 2015 with a unanimous decision victory over Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam but lost the title in his next fight against Gennady Golovkin.
The 33-year-old knows how big this opportunity is and is ready to do whatever it takes to defeat Benividez. “If he wants a war, he’ll get a war. I’m strong and I’ve very confident in my abilities. I know he’s a very strong fighter, but we have a plan going in against him. We’re not worried and we will do what we have to do to be at our best on fight night. David Benavidez will have his hands full on Saturday night,” said Lemieux.
The Canadian went on to say, “If you know David Lemieux, he’s never refused a fight and he’s always taken whatever fight they put in front of him. When we had big fights in the past, we always took them. If you want to be a world champion, you have to fight the best.
“He’s a great fighter and you can’t take anything away from him, but he’s never fought David Lemieux and he will see what that means on Saturday night. I know what I’m going in there against. Does he know what he’s going in against?”
While Lemieux has a had a long career that dates to 2007 and he has collected 43 wins along the way, this would be his biggest victory so far. He is fighting a younger fighter who most people think is going to be better in all departments. If he can shock the world on Saturday he will prove his legitimacy as a real champion and a threat at super middleweight.
