Before David Benavidez and Oleksandr Gvozdyk step into the boxing ring on June 15, the two might feel a gush of memories. Sweet for the ‘Mexican Monster’, who then took on an experienced boxer and outboxed him. And not-so-pleasant for the Ukrainian fighter, who felt he could do better. That happened close to 7 years ago. But the talk of the past has been dominating the present.

Gvozdyk, 37, can rub off that and start afresh as he takes on Benavidez, 37, in a high-stakes bout with the WBC interim light heavyweight title on the line. While he is well-prepared for the action now, he wishes he could have done better back then. When asked about the incident that continues to cloud their fight, Gvozdyk, at 20-1, candidly accepted. He told Fight Hype, “It was a long time ago. Maybe seven years ago, and yeah, he was dominated in sparring, you know. I have no excuses. Yeah, he was better.”

However, there is a different side to it. The Kharkiv native disclosed that he was not in a training camp and was still reeling under the effects of jet lag. So, he remained optimistic about his chances this Saturday and expected an upturn in his fortunes. Gvozdyk, who is coming into the fight on the heels of a phenomenal 2023 where he bagged 3 wins, continued, “I don’t like make any excuses.”

Gvozdyk admits David Benavidez dominated during their sparring
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“For my opinion, I came out from Ukraine, jetlag, you know. Not training. He was in the middle of gym. But all of these are just the words and excuses, you know. Now I believe I’m in a better shape than I used to be. So, we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Gvozdyk added.

‘The Nail’ has his work cut out in Benavidez, at 28-0, who unloads heavy punches and prefers to finish fights. What separates the latter is his peak physical levels, which is also one reason Gvozdyk could not topple him in the sparring. He explained the same when he sat down on Sean Zittel’s YouTube channel. “I think the key is conditioning. I was completely out of condition,” Gvozdyk specified. The former WBC champion has another thing to worry about. It seems Benavidez has adjusted well to a weight jump.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk doesn’t see David Benavidez ‘small’ at 175

Benavidez, a WBC interim champion at 168, decided to carve out a name for himself and not wait for Canelo Alvarez. While many saw him big at 168, him moving up a weight class didn’t dent his size advantage. Gvozdyk maintained, “His size, he’s actually big. He moved up from 168. But he’s not smaller than me. He’s the same size. He’s a huge 168-pounder, and now he doesn’t look small at 175,”

Gvozdyk continues to stretch his head and wonder how the American boxer could drain himself to 168. Whether a shift to a different weight class would work out for Benavidez or not, or whether he would lose his speed for more power, is yet to be seen.

What do you make of this confession by Oleksandr Gvozdyk about his sparring with David Benavidez? Do you believe that their old sparring will have a bearing on the fight? Let us know in the comments below.