This weekend’s action is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between David Benavidez defending his belt against Anthony Yarde. In this sit-down interview Benavidez talks about how he anticipates this fight playing out, what he thinks of his opponent, and why he’s confident in his preparation for the moment. Check out some excerpts from Benavidez below with the full video interview at the top.
Benavidez on Yarde believing their fight will be a shootout
“Yeah, I definitely agree with that. I feel like, for me, I’m the more intelligent fighter. I feel like I’m on a different level from Anthony Yarde. I’ve showed that I’m from a higher pedigree but I know that he’s going to come in there, he’s going to try to throw some big shots, he’s going to try to rattle me up but at the end of the day I’m the more intelligent fighter and if he wants a shootout, we can do a shootout.
“At the end of the day this is what I’m here for. That does not scare me or intimidate me in any kind of way. This is the type of fight I want. I want a great fight, I want a hard fight, and I want to show the fans that I am the best in the weight division.
“He can say it’s going to be a shootout but I’m the more intelligent fighter. I’m going to go in there — obviously I’m not going to be dumb, I’m going to follow my game plan and I’m going to be intelligent with the shot selections I make. So it’s definitely going to be a game of chess, but it’s going to be a high volume game of chess.”
On whether Yarde is more or less dangerous in this fight considering he’s failed twice in world title opportunities and this might be his last
“I think it’s a little bit of both…It makes him more dangerous because this might be the last time he gets an attempt at a title shot but nonetheless he’s lost both world title shots that he’s had and he’s gotten knocked out in both of them. I know he came in really prepared but I give him the respect he deserves. I’ve treated this fight like it’s the hardest fight of my career. I’ve trained about four months and a half for this fight. I know what comes with this so I’m ready for whatever Anthony Yarde brings my way but I’m going to make sure I’m as vicious, as relentless as I am in every fight.”
On if he was impressed at all by Yarde’s performance against Beterbiev
“I was impressed that he was able to hurt Beterbiev and I was impressed he was able to hurt Kovalev as well. So I took into consideration the good stuff he does, I’ve prepared for his big shots, I’ve prepared for his counter shots. I know everything he does. I know his game plan in and out, I’ve been watching him a lot.
“From him, he did get stopped in both of those fights so I know there’s a weakness there.”
