Benavidez talks drug use, coming back for his world title

Benavidez tested positive for cocaine last year.

In this sit-down interview with Fight Hub TV, super middleweight David Benavidez (20-0, 17 KOs) talks about his past drug usage and how he believes he let a lot of people down. Benavidez is currently scheduled to take on J’Leon Love on the Errol Spence-Mikey Garcia card, so check out some excerpts from the video below with the full interview above.

Benavidez on having been out of action for a year and how this time has been for him:

“It’s been good, man. Obviously last year wasn’t that good, you know, we had a couple things happened to us but, you know, just as a person and as a boxer we can bounce back. I’ve been good, though. I’ve been working hard, I moved to Seattle, but now I’m in Long Beach training, you know what I mean, so I’m just very excited to come back, you know?”

On if it hurts knowing two other fighters will be fighting for a world title that he never lost in the ring:

“Yeah, it really does. You know, because I didn’t get beat by anybody, I got beat by myself basically, with dumb decisions I made. But you know, we live and we learn but you know, it’s just made me more hungrier. Because I know when I see somebody win my belt — you know, the WBC belt that’s rightfully mine — it’s gonna take a lot out of me but it’s gonna make me even hungrier to go back in there and get it, you know, get what’s mine...”

On what led to him partying and using cocaine:

“I mean it was just really a bad decision and bad timing, you know what I mean, when I decided to do it. You know, it happened, it needed to happen when it happened. You know, the people — I think it was just God, you know, telling me I shouldn’t be doing something because it was just a random drug test that ended up at my front door. But I’m glad that it happened, I’m not gonna be making stupid decisions like that anymore...it wasn’t only bad for me, it was bad for my family.

“You know, all the bad publicity we got, you know, I got a lot of hate mail on Instagram...I just wanna use it for all my fans, upcoming boxers that even think about doing that, you know it’s gonna hurt you a lot, you know what I mean. Not even money-wise, but you know everything’s gonna be stripped from you, your title, your reputation, so you might as well just avoid it. It’s not worth it.”

On if he cocaine use got bad, to where he was addicted:

“No. It was the first time, you know what I mean. But like I said, it was bad timing, it was really bad timing...just hanging around with the wrong people. I don’t wanna speak too much about it because, you know, I was really depressed for like three months but it was my own fault...”

On how he was able to pull himself out of that depression:

“You know, I know I’m better than most of the guys in the division, you know what I mean, so after I get stripped of my title, I get suspended, this and that, I just hear a lot of guys talking. Talking and talking but they weren’t talking when I was right there...I didn’t kill nobody, it wasn’t as bad as it [seemed].”

On if he believes he should’ve been stripped of his world title:

“Yeah, I deserved to get stripped ‘cause a champion shouldn’t act like that. But, you know, I know I’m better than most of these guys in my weight division, I just wanna show the fans, I’m just coming back stronger than ever basically.”

On his beef with Caleb Plant, who is now a world champion, and how it all started:

“It’s ‘cause Caleb Plant, you know, when he does interviews he’s very professional guy supposedly. He doesn’t talk bad about nobody, he stays in his own lane supposedly. But when he’s on Instagram, this fuckin’ guy, every time I’d go on Instagram he has something to say about me...

“So I didn’t really wanna say too much but my brother’s not gonna take that from nobody so my brother, I think it was two weeks before his fight, and my brother got in his face and then Caleb Plant, he was really scared. And then, you know, he sucker punched my brother and then got behind his people...

“We’re gonna end up fighting anyway so the more hype we can give it the better it’s gonna be because at the end of the day, I am gonna knock him out and it’s gonna be much sweeter when I do.”

On having sparred with the likes of Golovkin, Bivol, ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, Quillin, Pavlik, Rosado, and Uzcategui, and who hits the hardest out of all of them:

“Golovkin...the thing about Golovkin, he has so much twist and turn on his punches and he knows precisely how to throw ‘em. That’s what makes his punches hard. And he has heavy fists too, so all that put together — that’s why he knocks people out like the way he does, you know what I mean, people don’t get up...I was in training camp with him one time, I seen him knock four guys out back-to-back....That guy, he’s the real deal.”