DAVID BENAVIDEZ says losing his world titles as a young knucklhead made him the man and the fighter that he is today.
Benavidez twice reigned as super-middleweight world champion but lost his belts outside of the ring both times.
David Benavidez twice lost belts outside the ringCredit: Getty
Firstly, he tested positive for cocaine in 2018 after beating Ronald Gavril and recieved a four-month suspension for the breach.
Benavidez won back the green and gold belt in a breakout performance against Andre Dirrell a year later but again vacated it for trouble outside the ropes.
This time it was failure to make weight against Roamer Alexis Angulo that saw the American hand back his prized possesion.
Now five years on, Benavidez has welcomed three children into the world, won the WBC title up at light-heavyweight and claimed the ordeals forced change for the good – in and out of the ring.
He told SunSport: “I call that character building.
“I was building my character as a young knucklehead but everybody has their own path and I feel like going through this path has made me a better person, has made me a better man, it’s made me a better boxer.
“This is something I had to go through for myself to get to how where I am today and like I said, what makes me happy is that I was able to go through that young, it’s made me a better man as of today.”
Beneavidez, 28, moved up to 175lb to pursue the division’s top dogs after Mexican super-middleweight rival Canelo Alvarez, 35, refused to entertain talk of a fight.
David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde - all the info
Will it be third time lucky?!
British star will be desperate to finally clinch world champion status after two failed previous attempts – but he’ll have to overcome WBC light heavyweight title holder, David Benavidez.
Yarde’s first boxing heartbreak came in 2019 when he lost a WBO belt bout to Sergey Kovalev.
The British heavyhitter then suffered an eigthth round stoppage in his title clash with four years later.
But since then, Yarde has put together four consecutive wins, which has ultimately earned him a shot against the undefeated
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But Dmitry Bivol, 33, and Artur Beterbiev, 40, are still yet to finalise terms for a trilogy decider after their two-fight double header left the scores even.
Bivol was also forced to – which Benavidez elevated from interim to full champion.
So Britain’s Yarde, 34, has bravely stepped in to face the man nicknamed the Mexican Monster on Saturday live on DAZN PPV .
Yarde stepped up in world title defeats to Sergey Kovalev in 2019 and Beterbiev three years later and could be on the verge of his final shot at light-heavyweight gold.
Benavidez, with 24 KOs in his 30 wins, said: “This is the type of stuff that gets me out of bed and makes me work hard – a fighter that’s ready, that’s 100 per cent ready, that knows that this is his last opportunity at a world title shot.
“So you know this is something that I like, this is not something that scares me. I know how to train for these types of fights, I’ve been training extremely hard.
“I say it all the time, but this is one of the camps I’ve worked the hardest on in my career but also because I give all the fighters that I go up against respect.
“I know now from when I fought Caleb Plant, I knew that all the fights after that moment were gonna get harder and harder and harder so I’ve combated that by working extremely hard and just pushing it to the limit every single day.
“This is how a world champion move and like I said, I’m ready for whatever comes my way. I’m excited that I’m gonna have a hungry fighter in there and that’s just gonna raise my game to another level.”
Benavidez with Brit challenger Anthony YardeCredit: ring magazine 
