David Benavidez has been named by Mike Tyson as a boxer he would fear to face (Image: Getty)
Boxing icon has named David Benavidez as the one man he would be afraid to fight. The 59-year-old legend even christened Benavidez with his moniker, ‘The Mexican Monster’ after eulogising over the 28-year-old. Benavidez holds the record as the youngest super middleweight world champion in history and has kept a keen eye on the undefeated star in recent times.
When asked by last year how fares against his contemporaries, Tyson backed the light heavyweight champ to come out on top against any and all challengers. “I like him against everybody,” Tyson said. “He’s so underrated but so over-polarised here. Listen, I’d be afraid to fight him too if I was in that division. No one even has a chance against him, and I’m talking facts.”
David Benavidez enjoyed a successful 2024 in the ring (Image: Getty)
While Tyson clearly fancies the American-born star against any opponent, Tyson may have to wait a while longer to see Benavidez take on current unified 168lb champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez. Even though Benavidez was the mandatory challenger to Alvarez over a year, the clash never materialised. It’s since been reported that Benavidez has grown tired at waiting for his chance at the 34-year-old icon.
Benavidez advanced up to light-heavyweight and impressive wins against Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Morrell in June and October of last year have now made him the WBC and WBA mandatory challenger to undisputed champion Dmitry Bivol.
It was reported that Benavidez was in advanced talks to make the Bivol fight happen, however those talks have apparently failed to get off the ground as it stands. However, if Bivol decides on a trilogy bout with Artur Beterbiev instead then Benavidez may look to fight the UK’s Callum Smith.
Mike Tyson lost against Jake Paul late last year (Image: Getty)
Benavidez has held the World Boxing Association (WBA) light heavyweight title (Regular version) since February 2025, and the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim light heavyweight title since 2024. He currently has a record of 30 wins and no losses, with 24 coming by knock-out.
Meanwhile ‘Iron’ Mike will go down as one of the most formidable heavyweights of all time. He won the WBC title at just 20 years old when he defeated Trevor Berbick by knockout in the second round to become the youngest heavyweight champion ever – a record that still stands to this day.
Yet his recent defeat to YouTube star Jake Paul has somewhat ushered in calls of concern for him. Tyson’s bout was shown live on and became the most streamed sporting event in history as he fought a man who is more than 30 years younger than him. However, some stars of the sport shared their worries since after the once undisputed world heavyweight champion looked a shadow of his former self in the fight.