Benavidez crushes Gavril to retain crown

LOS ANGELES

David Benavidez outclassed Ronald Gavril to easily retain his WBC super-middleweight crown with a unanimous points victory on Feb. 17.

The 21-year-old champion from Phoenix dominated Romania’s Gavril to claim a deserved win at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Benavidez had beaten Gavril, 31, last September by a split decision to claim the vacant crown in one of the best fights of 2017.

An ill-tempered build-up to the rematch had seen Gavril vowing to right a wrong, claiming he had robbed of victory in the first fight.

But on Feb. 17 there was only one winner, with Benavidez using his stinging jab and superior movement to toy with Gavril on his way to a resounding victory.

One judge scored it 119-109 while the two other cards had it 120-108 in favor of Benavidez, who improved to 20-0 with 17 knockouts after the win.