There is no doubt in the mind of trainer Jose Benavidez Sr that his son Jose Benavidez Jr 28-2-1 (19) will beat WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo 32-0 (22) in their 10-round 163-pound catchweight bout at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 25.
The only question Benavidez Sr has is whether Charlo will turn up to fight at all.
The 33-year-old Charlo from Houston, Texas has suffered a well-publicised battle with mental health that has kept him on the sidelines for two-and-a-half years.
Benavidez Sr says he wouldn’t be surprised of Charlo, the twin brother of former undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, is a late withdrawal from the bout.
“I believe in my heart he’s going to beat him. He’s been training hard and I’m just hoping that Charlo shows up,” Benavidez Sr said to FightHubTV.
“He could just wake up one day and go, ‘I’m not doing well mentally’ and then the fight is off, or ‘I got injured’.
“Jermall Charlo, I’m praying for you. Before I go to sleep, I’m praying for you to show up on November 25th.”
There has been quite a bit of animosity between the two camps in the lead up to the fight, but Benavidez Sr admits a begrudging respect for his son’s opponent.
“This is a big opportunity for Junior to fight Charlo, another great champion,” he said. “I don’t like the guy because he talks a lot of shit too, but he’s a great fighter.
“Before I was a fan and I’m still a fan. He’s a great fighter, he brings excitement to the fight. He’s undefeated, a world champion, a dangerous fighter and for us, it’s a great opportunity.
“For Junior it’s the biggest opportunity of his life to go up there and make a big upset and I’m so sure and so happy that Junior is going to do that. On the 25th it’s going to be a big upset.
“It’s a great thing, I’m super excited, I’m super happy. We’re training hard. Junior is on another level. They think they’re going to come fight a guy that is washed, is done because he got shot in the leg and all those things.
“I think they made a big mistake of choosing Junior and for us it’s a great opportunity to take over and make a big upset.
“Junior is like that. Junior is like me in that he likes to talk a lot. David is more quiet. We entertain people and I try not to be disrespectful to people, but I just feel confident of what we do.
“We’re in a game where we’re going to knock you out, or we’re going to get knocked out, or we could end up in a hospital, so we have to put all that hard work in there and do the best that we can.
“I’m super happy that we do something that we love and so far, so good. We have to keep working hard and see how far we can go.”
Benavidez Sr revealed he was originally expecting the fight to take place at the 160-pound weight limit for Charlo’s WBC belt.
“We agreed to 160 to fight for the world title but three weeks from today they called and said we’re not going to fight for the title no more because Charlo can’t do 160 and that they wanted to fight at 166, 167,” Benavidez Sr said.
“I’m like, what the fuck? Come on, bro. This guy is already at 160. He’s walking at 160. There’s no fucking way. Junior is already at weight; he’s been at weight.
“Then we came to an agreement at 163 and we’re not fighting for the title no more.
“That’s a little bit sad, but as long as we beat him. Charlo can do the weight. I believe that once we beat him, even though if we were fighting for the title we could have beaten him, and he has a [rematch] clause.
“They’re not stupid. They’ll put a rematch clause and if [Benavidez Jr.] beats him, maybe that could be a mandatory for a title. If we were fighting for a title, we would have a rematch also, so it doesn’t matter.
“I’m super happy that Dave and Junior are fighting super hard. He’s super motivated and we have a chance of a lifetime.”
