David Benavidez (31-0, 25 KO) pays tribute to Gennady Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KO), who, by his own admission, had a huge impact on the development of his career. "Gennady never wanted to hurt people during sparring. Together we concluded that by teaching young fighters and allowing them to develop, they, being much better boxers, would then allow us to develop," said Abel Sanchez, the longtime coach of the Kazakh boxer, a few days ago.
Benavidez himself recently confirmed Sanchez's words: "I give him credit because it is thanks to Golovkin that I became the fighter I am today. I sparred with him when I was sixteen, and they were always real fights. He pushed me to a higher level. He hit hard, hit seriously, so I had to find ways and tricks to get past him. He made me learn more and improved my boxing IQ."
"I take my hat off to Golovkin. He is a great person and a great champion, both in and out of the ring. I learned a lot from him and owe him a lot," admitted Benavidez, a former two-time super middleweight world champion and current WBC light heavyweight champion, who is set to fight Gilberto Ramirez (48-1, 30 KO), the WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion, on May 2.
