{"id":922164,"date":"2026-10-06T01:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T01:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922164\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T01:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T01:18:09","slug":"david-benavidez-is-ben-whittakers-worst-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/922164\/","title":{"rendered":"David Benavidez Is Ben Whittaker\u2019s Worst Matchup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Whittaker\u2019s difficulty handling Conor Wallace\u2019s late pressure makes Stephen Edwards\u2019 assessment of a hypothetical David Benavidez<\/a> fight easy to understand. The trainer sees Benavidez as the worst stylistic opponent Whittaker could face.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenavidez is the absolute worst possible fighter\/style Whitaker should ever fight,\u201d Edwards wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Whittaker survived Wallace\u2019s strong finish to win a unanimous decision on Saturday in Birmingham, securing the IBF mandatory position at light heavyweight. However, the final rounds exposed how difficult it became for him to maintain his defense once Wallace forced more exchanges.<\/p>\n

Benavidez could create that problem much earlier. His combination punching makes opponents defend through several shots before they can respond or move away. Making the first punch miss doesn\u2019t necessarily end the attack, which would leave Whittaker less time for the gestures and pauses that accompany his showboating.<\/p>\n

Against opponents he can discourage or keep at a comfortable distance, Whittaker has room to display his speed and reactions. Benavidez would present a harder question: can he land enough meaningful punches to interrupt the pressure and create space?<\/p>\n

Movement alone would be a demanding answer over 12 rounds. Constantly escaping requires energy, and Benavidez\u2019s body punching could make that work increasingly difficult. Whittaker would need to hold his position at times, defend combinations and punch back without leaving himself exposed.<\/p>\n

Wallace demonstrated the danger when Whittaker became tired. Benavidez\u2019s greater offensive variety could force him to solve several problems at once, rather than simply move away from an advancing opponent.<\/p>\n

Andy Lee\u2019s disclosure that Whittaker had COVID a week before the Wallace fight complicates any firm judgment about his stamina. It does not establish how he would cope with Benavidez\u2019s sustained attacks.<\/p>\n

There is no announced fight between them. Edwards\u2019 comment is a stylistic assessment, and Saturday supplied a reason to take it seriously.<\/p>\n

Whittaker earned his title opportunity against Wallace. Before imagining him beating someone like Benavidez, he needs to show that he can control a pressure fighter after his early speed advantage stops being enough.<\/p>\n

Share this article<\/p>\n

About the authorBoxing 24\/7 Wire<\/p>\n

Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben Whittaker\u2019s difficulty handling Conor Wallace\u2019s late pressure makes Stephen Edwards\u2019 assessment of a hypothetical David Benavidez fight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":922165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-922164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=922164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/922164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=922164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=922164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=922164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}