'Masterpiece': David Benavidez's brutal win over Zurdo Ramirez sets off boxing world
See how the boxing world reacted to David Benavidez's stunning victory over Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
David Benavidez is a bad, bad man. In case there was ever any doubt about that, Saturday night’s action in Las Vegas put it to rest for good. In perhaps the finest performance of an already standout career, Benavidez (32-0, 26 KOs) destroyed Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (48-2, 30 KOs) with a star-making performance to capture the WBA and WBO unified cruiserweight titles and claim ownership over one of boxing’s most important weekends of the year — Cinco de Mayo weekend.
Making matters more impressive, Benavidez — the reigning WBC light heavyweight champion — not only jumped up a staggering 25 pounds to challenge Ramirez, he also did so in front of his longtime rival and the former owner of Cinco de Mayo weekend, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, then directly called out Alvarez in the aftermath of a stunning showcase of hand speed, grit and brilliant combination punching. Benavidez entered the evening as the No. 7-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world on Uncrowned’s rankings, but his name is likely going to rocket up much higher on that list as the boxing world attempts to understand what it just watched unfold on Saturday.
Check out reaction to Benavidez’s career-changing night below, including commentary from former pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford and Devin Haney. Man. David Benavidez is just different.
Absolutely broke Zurdo down. Brutal shots throughout. Power clearly not an issue, and the speed was there all night.