By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

David Benavidez fought former light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk as he decided to stay busy while waiting on Saul Alvarez who appears in no hurry to faced Benevidez.  In many ways this was two fights as David Benavidez dominated the first half easily to build up a big lead as he landed 124 punches to  Gvozdyk 69 punches but in the second half of the fight,  Gvozkyk landed 94 punches to 99 punches for Benavidez, and it was a more competitive fight.

Throughout the first half of the fight, Benavidez landed whatever he wanted and pushed Gvozdyk throughout the bout, nailing him with body shots and left hooks but in the second half of the fight, adjusted as he weathered the initial storms and started to nail Benavidez, even opening up a cut over Benavidez left eye.  While there was not doubt who was the winner, I had the fight 117-111, as I had Benavidez winning 9 of the 12 rounds but he never seemed to have Gvozdyk even thought he easily teed off on the Ukrainian fighter.  While Gvozdyk did have three fights in his comeback after returning for three years,  he still had enough to give Benavidez.

Benavidez wants Alvarez for the super middleweight, and he has the skills and power to defeat Alvarez but one is left wondering if he could successfully win a title as a light heavyweight in a division dominated by Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol who has already defeated Alvarez in a light heavyweight title bout.   Now so Benavidez has a decision to make if Alvarez continues to hold out against fighting Benavidez.  Does he go light heavyweight?  As for the Alvarez-Benavidez would be a big PPV fight and there is plenty of money to be made.

Overall, Benavidez landed more punches, more accurately with his punches and dominated the power punching side but in the second half of the fight both fighters were essentially even in power shots. 

Frank Martin wanted Gervonta Davis lightweight title, but Davis reminded everyone why he was one of boxing electrifying fighter as he ended the fight with a brutal knockout in the eighth round.

Frank Martin started out fast and won the first three rounds as he marked up Davis’s right eye with his left jab.  Davis began to wear Martin down as used his right-hand jab from his southpaw stance and then landed with his left. Martin never had hit the canvas coming into this fight, but Davis is an elite fighter.  Martin landed more punches in, but he was less accurate and didn’t have the power to ward off Davis.  Davis reminds me of Joe Frazier at his peak as Frazier would wear his opponent in the early rounds. When he fought Buster Mathias was a good boxer who won the early rounds but by the eleventh round Mathias was worn out.   Davis did the same thing to Martin as he wore the challenger down and by the time the eighth round arrived, Martin was a beaten fighter.

What is next for Davis?  There is a fight to unify the lightweight title against Lomachenko for Lomachenko IBF title and there is  fight with  Shakur Stevenson who will defend his title against Harutyunyan on July 6^th.