🥊 Tank Aiming To Roll Over Romero

May 27, 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Fight With Teddy Atlas Newsletter, your one stop shop for all things combat sports related, brought to you by Teddy and The Fight team.

Teddy Atlas and co-host Ken Rideout breakdown the David Benavidez domination of David Lemieux and what the future looks like for Benavidez (Canelo?). They also cover some Canelo news along the upcoming George Kambosos vs Devin Haney fight along with Tank Davis vs Rolly Romero.

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Every Friday We Bring You:

  • A combat sports news digest with all the headlines you need to know from Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts.

  • Highlights from the podcast and across the fight world.

  • Fight times and information you need to know ahead of time.

  • How to’s and tips for Boxing from Teddy himself.

Fight News From Around The 🌍

Benavidez Stakes His Claim

On paper, David Lemieux was meant to be a mismatch for David Benavidez.

It turns out he was even more out-matched in practice, and the young Phoenix native stopped the former middleweight champion in 3 brutal rounds.

It was essentially a light heavyweight beating up a middleweight.

It won't be those kind of performances that cement David Benavidez's legacy at super middleweight, a division he's been campaigning in since he was only 19 years old.

It'll be the fights he hasn't had, either though his own doing having been stripped twice of his WBC belt, or due to the fact that a certain Canelo Alvarez made it his mission to collect all of the belts in the division during a 12 month stretch.

All eyes were firmly on Canelo and his exploits at super middleweight, and the young, hungry Benavidez was conveniently ignored.

But now, with 6 straight KO victories since his initial title win against Ronald Gavril in 2017, and the potential of title vacancies at super middleweight, he can't be denied along longer.

His constant pressure and size makes him a very difficult proposition for any top super middleweight fighter, including the division's current undisputed king.

That skillset will see him favoured against the top roster of super middleweight talent at PBC, including former world champion Caleb Plant and "Regular" WBA champion David Morrell, as well as WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo.

All those fights could be in store for Benavidez as Canelo moves forward with the GGG trilogy and eventual Bivol rematch.

If he ever does return to 168 lbs in the near future, there's a strong possibility he'll have to go through Benavidez once he gets there.

Heads Will Roll. Or Will They?

Crazier upsets have happened.

Rolando "Rolly" Romero is undefeated in 14 fights, having won 12 of them by stoppage.

He's strong, naturally big for the weight and possesses more than a punchers chance of knocking out most lightweights on any given night.

Only problem is that his opponent on Saturday night shares many of his strengths, but doesn't have any of his weaknesses.

Gervonta Davis has established himself as one of the best knockout artists in the sport, having only heard the final bell twice throughout his 26 fights.

However, unlike Romero, he's been knocking out quality opposition as far back as 2017, when he KO'd IBF super featherweight champion Jose Pedraza at only 21 years of age, claiming the first of his 3 world titles that he's collected since.

Even names that you wouldn't consider to be his resume's strongest, such as Yuriorkis Gamboa or Mario Barrios, are a level above Romero's best opposition.

Even in fights where he's struggled (relatively) such as last time out against Isaac Cruz, Davis has shown additional dimensions to his game and an ability to patiently pick apart an opponent over 12 rounds.

Romero's power punch first-style, all gas no brakes style has got him to the dance here to an extent, but against the highest level operators who can box AND punch like Gervonta, it'll cause him a lot of problems.

Fight ⏰ for this weekend

Boxing: Davis vs Romero (Saturday 28th/Sunday 29th)

  • 🇺🇸 Full Card: 9pm Eastern/ 6pm Pacific | Main Event: 11pm Eastern/ 8pm Pacific

  • 🇬🇧 Full Card: 2am | Main Event: 4am

  • 🇦🇺 Full Card: 11am Eastern/ 9am Western | Main Event: 1pm Eastern/ 11am Western

Don't forget to tune in to the latest episode 🎧

Thanks for being with us and see you next week #BANG💥