Benavidez: "Boxers Who Don't Watch Boxing Are Fools"

In an engaging interview with the YouTube channel Tha Boxing Voice, WBC interim super middleweight champion David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs) opened up about whose fights he studies to improve his craft.

— How important is it for you to study fight tapes? Is there any fighter from the past you've noticed something from and then used in a fight?

— I'd say, everyone I've fought, I've really picked them apart. I literally beat the crap out of all of them.

I tell this to the young fighters. You need to evolve; you can't be the same fighters you were in the past. Even if you're just studying one other fighter, there's always something you can improve on today. There must be something you want to learn every new day. Today, I watched boxing. Here – I wrote everything down. This is what I worked on today. I did all this today [shows a list]. I'll show you tapes from other camps. Here are the damn workouts. I have a lot of this shit here.

Young fighters, if you want to get better, of course, you need to let a coach teach you. But once you reach a certain level, and your coach stays the same, you need to add something new. You can't expect the coach to learn something for you. You are students of the game, but then comes a time when you become the teachers. Here we're just mixing ideas in the camp, seeing which one is the best, and going from there. I want to be the best, so I need to learn from the best. Every day, I watch boxing for one and a half to two hours by myself. Nobody tells me to do this.

— Do you focus on certain fighters?

— I watch Floyd Mayweather. Because he does everything technically well. I'll watch Floyd Mayweather and just practice one of his moves. You just practice how he did it and perfect that move. I like Mayweather, his defense. Technically, he does everything well.

Persistence and attack – that's Roberto Duran. Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya with his jab, James Toney with his defense, Lomachenko with his angles, I watch Usyk for his angles. There are so many different fighters you can learn from. Even Devin Haney. He's really good, technically shows himself well in everything. That's why I love watching different fighters.

I definitely want to be the best and the greatest, so I learn from these fighters every day. I've been in boxing for 25 years. I don't understand when boxers say they don't watch boxing. It's stupid. Obviously, you're a fool if you think that way. And if you say you're the best, then your career will be short. Besides studying fights, you need to evolve. Every year you should be different. You have to be different from last year's version of yourself. I love boxing very much. I feel like I love boxing more with each year. I also teach my son. I just enjoy it.

David Benavidez last entered the ring in November against Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) and won after Andrade's corner stopped the fight.

Benavidez's next fight is planned for the summer – against Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-1, 16 KOs) for the WBC interim light heavyweight title (up to 175 pounds).