LOS ANGELES — Marco Antonio Barrera. Erik Morales. Juan Manuel Marquez. Oscar De La Hoya.
Those were just some of the handful of Hall of Fame fighters that David Benavidez named off the top of his head as his favorite Mexican boxers.
The 26-year-old knockout star has been fighting under the nickname “El Bandera Roja,’’ but in recent years, another legend of yesteryear, Mike Tyson, has billed Benavidez with a new moniker — the “Mexican Monster.”
Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is looking to prove that he’s a nightmare-in-waiting when he meets Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) on March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime pay-per-view.
The former two-time super middleweight champion of Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Dominican descent is hoping a dominant win against Plant will put him in the Pantheon of great Mexican fighters.
“There’s a lot of good Mexican fighters,” Benavidez said in an interview with BoxingScene.com and other reporters. “I want to follow the line and be added to that list of great Mexican fighters.
“I’m a Mexican Monster. This is how I’ve fought my whole life. I go in there and put a beating on people. From when I was a young kid until now, nothing has changed. They can say everything that they want. That I’m flat-footed and have no defense, this and that. When they get in the ring with me, they know it’s a whole different story.”
Boxing currently has several great active Mexican fighters and champions.
Chief among them is Canelo Alvarez, a potential future opponent for Benavidez.
Alvarez is the undisputed super middleweight champion who knocked out Plant in the 11th round of their 2021 meeting. Benavidez is promising to do the same to Plant inside six rounds.
Should he accomplish the feat, he’ll be the No. 1 mandatory challenger for Alvarez’s WBC belt, and move one step closer to accomplishing his goal as one of the greatest Mexican fighters of his generation.
“This is the most motivated I’ve ever been in my life. I know that to be a legend, I have to go in there and make a splash. This is the second wind of my career. I’ve been a professional for 10 years and feel that I have another 15 left in me. I’m excited. This is definitely going to be a great fight. I want to knock [Plant] out. I want his f—— head.
“He doesn’t have confidence in himself. I know exactly what I’m going to do. He’s been knocked out before, and I know I can knock him out. I’ve hurt everybody that I’ve been in the ring with ever since I was 13. This is going to be no different.”
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.