A week before he entered the Tucson Convention Center Arena boxing ring, undefeated Phoenix welterweight Jose Benavidez was fighting off flu symptoms.
The illness caused him to miss a few days of training leading up to his 10-round bout with Brazil’s Sidney Siqueira and, by Friday, he still weighed in four pounds over his contracted weight.
Then on Saturday, he woke up with a cough. His condition made an obvious difference.
So much so that, even as Benavidez won a 10-round unanimous decision over Siqueira, the TCC Arena crowd of about 3,000 booed him during the ninth round and after the decision was announced.
Oh well.
As it turned out, the crowd appeared to feel a lot better after Tucson and Nogales featherweight Oscar Valdez (18-0, 16 KOs) stopped Ernie Sanchez (15-7-1, 6 KOs) in the third round.
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While the main event was called a TKO, Valdez sent Sanchez to the canvas with a sharp left-handed hook, and Sanchez rose up woozy, prompting the fight to be called.
“It was a sweet shot,” Valdez said.
Valdez, who grew up both in Nogales, Sonora, and Tucson, has said he hopes to return to Tucson for future fights. He is considered close to a featherweight title fight.
Before Valdez entered the ring, Benavidez had to deal with boos, not quite appearing the interim WBA super lightweight title holder he was. But Benavidez said he didn’t worry about the crowd and figured he did the best he could considering the circumstances.
“I thought I did enough to beat him,” Benavidez said. “I felt fast but not strong.” This was a good learning experience. Next time when I get sick, I’ll know what to do.”
As it was, Benavidez made it work pretty well by being much more efficient than his Brazilian opponent, who threw a big right hand at Benavidez throughout the fight but rarely landed in with any conviction.
Benavidez was effective enough, mostly with a precise left jab, that two judges gave him all 10 rounds, and another gave him all but one. A puzzled crowd booed.
“From outside the ring, it looks easy,” Benavidez said. “My game plan was not to pay attention to the crowd.”
More important than frustrating the fans was the fact that, Benavidez said, he frustrated Siquiera, who was unable to land many solid punches even during the many times he had Benavidez against the ropes.
Throughout the fight, it was mostly Siqueira’s big right-handed uppercuts against Benavidez’s precise left jab, and Siqueira often missed or did little damage with the right.
With a slight chorus of boos greeting him in the ninth round, even though he was technically ahead of Siqueira, Benavidez picked it up considerably in the 10th and final round.
He send Siqueira to the canvas with a strong right-handed shot then later pushed him into a corner with his left. The fight in hand, Benavidez continued to close out the rounds with another flurry before the final bell.
Benavidez landed a few flurries on Siqueira in the seventh round, though the Brazilian kept responding by pointing to his chest in a “c’mon give me more” type of gesture.
After more of the same in the eighth, with Benavidez still spending much of his time working against the ropes, Benavidez threw a big grin at his opponent as the bell rung.
The win moved Benavidez to 24-0 with 17 KOs, and Siqueira is 21-10-1.
