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Two of the best boxers in the world put on impressive performances in Saudi Arabia during Riyadh Season, and they deserve more recognition than they're getting. David Benavidez delivered another dominant showing against Anthony Yarde, proving once again he's ready for the biggest fights available. Meanwhile, Devin Haney put together what I believe was one of his best performances ever, but the post-fight criticism was completely unfair. Let's break down both fights and talk about what's next for these elite fighters.

πŸ₯Š IN THIS VIDEO:
David Benavidez vs Anthony Yarde

Dominant performance shows Benavidez is elite
Anthony Yarde hits his ceiling again - good but not great
Why Benavidez deserves Canelo, Bivol, Beterbiev conversation
Sounds like he's getting one of those fights next
Time to test him against the absolute best

Devin Haney's Underrated Performance

One of his best performances ever
In control while still being aggressive
Pushing forward and landing big shots
NOT a safe, boring performance

The Unfair Haney Criticism

Post-fight commentary was too harsh
His reputation means he needs to be perfect
Coming off Garcia fight, he NEEDED this win
Showed control AND aggression
Back in title conversation

What's Next in Boxing

Exciting matchups coming up to start 2026
Real fights that matter
Pound-for-pound discussions
Moving past the circus fights

Boxing Needs Better Focus

Too much attention on Fury, Paul, Joshua
Let's talk about the fights that actually matter
Real boxing for real fight fans

πŸ’¬ Do you think I'm off base on Haney? Was Benavidez as dominant as I think? What boxing matches do YOU want to see in 2025? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
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#Boxing #DavidBenavidez #DevinHaney #RiyadhSeason #AnthonyYarde #BoxingRecap #BoxingNews #SaudiArabia #Canelo #CaneloAlvarez #BoxingAnalysis #CombatSports #Bivol #Beterbiev #RyanGarcia #BoxingDebate #CouchPotatoDiary
Transcript
00:00Two of the best boxers in the world put on some pretty good performances out in Saudi Arabia,
00:05and I think they deserve the spotlight. So let's talk David Benavidez and Devin Henge.
00:17Riyadh season brought us another stacked card in November, and with that came some pretty
00:24interesting performances, but a couple that I want to spotlight here today. Again, apologies,
00:29this is a little late for a reaction video, but I still want to get something up, but I was on the
00:33radio in Calgary and couldn't talk about it. So David Benavidez, just a dominant performance of
00:39Anthony Yard, and I think what we see here, because Yard's a fine fighter, this is a couple of times
00:43where he has kind of bumped into that ceiling a little bit now, where he has been like pretty
00:47clearly a good fighter, not a great fighter, and that becomes a bit of an issue when you are fighting
00:55great fighters. And Devin Haney, or sorry, we'll talk about him in a second, David Benavidez showed
00:59he is a great fighter, and just showed he is on that level, and has been showing for a while that
01:05he deserves to be in the Canelo, Bivol, better be have, that conversation. And it sounds like he's
01:11getting one of those fights next? Good. He should, because he is absolutely deserving of being in
01:19those spots, and getting in those conversations. Just another dominant performance. It is time now
01:24to test this guy against the highest level that his weight classes have to offer. The other performance
01:30that was getting a lot of talk, and I just didn't get it, was Devin Haney. I thought this was one of
01:35his best performances ever. I, like, was it balls to the wall the whole time? No. But I think we are
01:42having now, and in some ways rightfully so, with him, like, it is an earned response, but I feel like
01:50for a fighter who gets the reputation of playing it safe, you almost have to come out like it is
01:56gaudy ward, and we're just thrown until one of us drops, baby, and who knows who it's gonna be,
02:02when it's gonna be, why it's gonna be. We're just going. It feels like if you have a measured approach,
02:07the way Haney has had, and you, the only way to get rid of that reputation is to come out like it
02:13is rock'em sock'em robots, or it's WWE, and you have a chair, and, and change people's minds of it.
02:19So yeah, was this, like, no one's top 10 lists of most exciting fights in the history of the sport
02:24changed after Saturday, but for Haney to get the criticism again of being too safe, too this,
02:33two that needed to push the pedal, I think was entirely unfair. I thought he was pushing when
02:38he needed to. Like, could there have been a little bit more? Sure, yeah. But he was in control of this
02:44fight, and still looking for big shots, and still coming forward, still landing effectively. So I,
02:49I just, I thought the post-fight commentary, calling out Haney, was entirely unfair. And I know,
02:57like, sometimes, especially if it's in a big fight, and Haney coming off of the Garcia,
03:00whatever that was, a couple of fights ago. And a bit of a performance in the next one.
03:05He needed a win. He needed a win. He needed a good performance.
03:10I will defend guys like that, when they need to win, because it's their life, right? Like,
03:14if he loses, then it's done for him, right? We're talking about this guy fighting
03:17on YouTube streams. All due respect to a YouTube stream. But, um, instead now, he gets a win,
03:23and he gets to keep fighting in these big fights, on pay-per-view, on DAZN, on this,
03:26that, and the other thing. So, I will be defensive of guys in those spots, because you still need to
03:31win. This is still a sport. But, I just, I feel like this was not that type of a showing at all.
03:36I thought Haney was pushing forward, was dictating where this fight was taking place,
03:40how it was taking place, and still landing some really substantial shots along the way.
03:46So, like, I, I was blown away with Devin Haney's performance. And I was off of social media,
03:51because we were a little bit behind on the, the, uh, pay-per-view when we were watching it.
03:53But I, and I'm really behind talking about it now, but I, I thought there was just this control,
04:00but also aggression, that we hadn't seen from him before. I thought it was his best performance.
04:04And I, I think that, like, for me, it answered what I needed to see answered. And he, he can move
04:08right back up into any title-y conversation-y that, that he wants to, at, at this particular time. So,
04:14I, yeah, I liked it a lot. And I, I was really surprised at some of the post-match commentary
04:18coming off of that. Um, and so I, I'm excited to see. We've got some good boxing coming up.
04:25We'll talk about it later on in the week. Uh, we've got some good boxing coming up to start
04:282026. Sue Taron, in the chat. Canelo, uh, dude, he is 40. Uh, if not, he looked 40 in his last fight.
04:35Canelo Alvarez, his hands are so slow now. Don't list him in the top 10. We'll do pound for pound later
04:40in the week. I think you can make a pretty compelling case that he's not there anymore.
04:44Um, I, I do agree that, and like one of my favorite fighters of all time, he has obviously
04:50lost a step. He, um, he has timed that by picking fights that no one wanted to see. And then this,
04:56um, Terrence Crawford one, he picked a fight that people wanted to see that it still kind of felt was
05:00easy for him. And then it wasn't. And he clear, you could clearly see where he was deficient at this
05:06point in his career. So yes, to list Canelo as a top 10 fighter at this point in his
05:09career would probably be whistling past the graveyard on his career a little bit. He's
05:15going to need to show a lot in the next little bit. Uh, another one here from Sue Taron. The sad
05:20fact about boss boxing is the number one ESPN thread is something about fury. Yeah. Um, I mean,
05:26look, there's the, the, um, the Paul Joshua stuff that's happening. Um, is that this weekend or next
05:32weekend? One of them. I just, I don't pay attention to that sort of a thing. I think a lot of the focus
05:37for boxing now should be December 27th. Uh, my number one pound for pound guy, no, in a way,
05:42um, goes to defend his title again to crazy power. If you just want a nice boxing cleanse,
05:49watch this guy's highlights on YouTube. He brings the heat. Um, so yes, that, that should be where
05:54a lot of the focus is instead of the Furies, the Pauls, the Joshua's at this point in, in their
05:58careers, a hundred percent agree with you on that. Sue Taron. So, uh, let me know what you guys think on
06:03the boxing conversation. If I'm completely out to lunch on Haney or Benavidez, uh, let me know
06:07in the chat, or if we're watching after the fact, let me know, um, in the comments. And while you're
06:12at it, let's keep this boxing conversation going. Sue Taron just said it. Uh, a lot of the boxing
06:16chatter is about things that don't deserve to be talked about here. Couch potato diary, uh,
06:20your boys covered fights for a long time. So I, I, I want to talk about the fights that matter
06:25in ways that matter. And I want more like-minded fans to do that. So whether you're watching on the
06:30live stream or you're watching us after the fact, hit that share button and let's share it with some
06:33real fight fans and get a real good conversation going. Not that this hasn't been, I've loved
06:37chatting with Sue Taron. Um, we haven't done this in a little bit. So I'm, um, yeah, I'm enjoying the
06:42conversation we're having today. I just wish you guys had more people to debate with when we're
06:45talking about these in the chat. And the best way to do that is hit that share button.
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