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Brett Okamoto
David Benavidez made easy work of Anthony Yarde on Saturday to retain his WBC and WBA “regular” light heavyweight titles and then announced his plan to challenge WBO and WBA cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez in May.
Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) knocked Yarde (27-4, 24 KOs) down early in the seventh round before finishing him off with unanswered punches at 1 minute, 59 seconds to earn a TKO victory inside ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It was a one-sided bout, as Benavidez rolled to the TKO behind extended combinations to the body and head.
“He stepped into Monster’s world, and he got KO’d,” said Benavidez, who goes by the nickname “The Mexican Monster.” “This feels amazing. I’m really happy with this. I’ve got some news. May 2, Zurdo Ramirez, I’m going up to challenge for his title.”
Saturday was Benavidez’s third appearance at light heavyweight and marked his first stoppage at the weight. His two previous appearances at 175 pounds ended in decision victories against David Morell and Oleksandr Gvozdyk.
It took Benavidez about four rounds to truly open up on Yarde, but it was smooth sailing once he did. Things really took a turn for the worse for Yarde in the sixth, when Benavidez started pounding his chest in the center of the ring after Yarde landed a good uppercut on the inside. The punch seemed to fire Benavidez up more than it stunned him, and he went on to dominate Yarde for the rest of the round and the fight.
In Ramirez (48-1, 30 KOs), Benavidez would be facing a fellow Mexican champion. Ramirez’s last loss came via decision to Dmitry Bivol in a nontitle fight in November 2022.