Teddy Atlas breaks down Benavidez vs Ramirez in detail

Teddy Atlas previews Benavidez vs Ramirez

Boxing legend Teddy Atlas spoke to Hard Rock Bet about this weekend's Benavidez vs Ramirez cruiserweight unification clash in Las Vegas on the celebrated Cinco do Mayo weekend.

The 69-year-old former boxing trainer broke down the Mexico vs Mexico matchup in detail, "It’s a tough fight. I mean, we make him [Benavidez] the favourite so automatically; he’s so fast because we love him and we’re impressed by his résumé, undefeated, and he’ll fight anybody. But he’s moving up now to fight at cruiserweight.

"Now listen, it’s a cruiserweight who used to be a middleweight, or super-middleweight, and he has moved up, but he’s been moved up and his body has stabilised and grown into being a solid cruiserweight. I’m talking about Ramirez.

"His body has stabilised and grown into being a solid cruiserweight. And Benavidez is now moving up from light-heavyweight to that weight class, so he won’t have the transitional time to really stabilise at the weight the way Ramirez has.

"So, you’ve got to figure that in when you’re talking about handicapping a fight of this magnitude. You’ve got to weigh those things—and I do weigh those things. Also, I weigh the styles, I weigh the past performances, the experience levels that they both have. They’ve both fought top guys—both of them.

"I give Benavidez so much credit. I really do, him and his father, because we use that saying “old school,” but a lot of times people say they’re old school, but they’re really not. They’re old school when it’s convenient.

"They say, “Oh, I’m old school, I’m different, I fight anybody,” and then all of a sudden they’re still picking their spots, and they’re not as old school as they claim. But Benavidez is old school. Benavidez and his father, they fight, they’re not afraid to take the challenges, to fight anybody.

"They showed that against Morrell. They’ve shown that. They wanted to fight Canelo. Obviously, Canelo didn’t want to do that, and he makes enough money and has enough power in the market where he chose not to do it and still get paid anyway.

"From a business sense, it made sense for Canelo to avoid Benavidez and go that way, but you can’t say you’re old school when push comes to shove and you don’t behave old school. Benavidez and his father behave old school. So give them credit. They’re moving up again, they’re taking a chance again, putting that undefeated status on the line again.

"I think it’s a tough fight. I think it’s a really, really tough fight. Ramirez is a solid guy. He throws a lot of punches. He’s a southpaw. He’s not an easy guy to outwork. You can hit him, but he’s technically still pretty solid—as Benavidez is.

"Both of them—you can find them for simple reasons, not because of technical flaws as much as they both fight you. They both engage you. They’re both in front of you. Like the great, late, great trainers used to say—“Let’s get it on.” That’s what they do and because of that, Benavidez, does he carry the power? There’s questions. Does he carry his power up to Ramirez?

"Ramirez has a good chin. Benavidez has a good chin. Is Benavidez able to get the attention of Ramirez that he might have to get, moving up in weight, to slow Ramirez down? Because those punch numbers of Ramirez can be pretty impressive. Can Benavidez slow those punch numbers down? Benavidez has high punch numbers himself.

"It really is one of those fights where, because of the styles and temperaments of both guys, it’s almost impossible for it not to be a good fight. It really does promise. The winners here are the fans and the sport.

"It promises to be a really, really good fight, and it brings attention to the cruiserweight division, a division that really needs attention.

"Because we forget about that division, it’s the stopover between light-heavyweight and heavyweight. So sometimes we kind of look past it. This fight will bring eyeballs to that division. So, it’s a fight I look forward to seeing."