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Add FightsATW on GoogleMISSION VALLEY, Calif.– The super middleweight division is bubbling with young fighters on their way up, and one of them is 25-year-old Daniel Blancas (15-0, 7 KOs), who is on Saturday’s fight card headlined by Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Nestor Bravo, live on DAZN.
At Thursday’s press conference, FightsATW checked in with Blancas and his trainer, Jose Benavidez Snr, ahead of Blancas’ fight against Sergio Jimenez (17-1-1, 15 KOs), live from the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, California. Being placed high on the card brings expectations, and Benavidez Snr was not shy about what he expects from Blancas on fight night. “He can’t just win the fight; he has to look impressive,” Benavidez Snr told FightsATW.
I first saw the team of Blancas and Benavidez Snr in August 2023 which by that time they had a pair of fights together. That night, it was clear there was something about Blancas that showed potential, but he was still very green and needed to be developed the right way, not rushed. Benavidez Snr knows what he has in Blancas, and with him working with his son, unified cruiserweight champion David Benavidez, and other contenders, the aim is to take Blancas to the next level. It all begins with this fight on Saturday night.
“I want to give all the credit to his father,” said Benavidez. “He did a great job taking him to all the amateur fights, and he was with him for 2-3 professional fights, and that’s where we met. We had him all that time after. He’s a great fighter. I’ve never seen a guy so dedicated and so disciplined. We had to change his style a little bit because he had that amateur style. For some reason, it’s been a little bit hard to change that style since he fought that way for a long time, but he listens.
“What we want him to do is go to the body a little more and sit on his punches a little more. He’s been doing well. He’s been sparring with David, Diego Pacheco, and now with young Marcos, a fighter from Cuba who is 16-0. He’s just looking better and better. That’s why he’s fighting on this big undercard.” Benavidez Snr later added, “Now it’s on him. We got him ready, and now I expect him to shine. He has to look impressive in order to keep going to the next level.”
When speaking to Blancas, who was as calm as anyone I’ve seen the day before the weigh-in, he appreciated the opportunity to work with Team Benavidez and how he is consistently reaching new limits.
“Being around them [Team Benavidez], honestly, it’s the work rate,” Blancas told FightsATW. “How intense David [Benavidez] trains has rubbed off on me. Every time we step into the ring, we give it 110%. [Jose Benavidez] Snr expects greatness from us. When we have a great day, he expects more. He wants 150% out of us. I feel like him pushing us has brought us to the next level. I feel like the results can speak for themselves, given how we’ve been looking in our fights.”
On Saturday night against Jimenez, Blancas has a real opportunity to introduce himself to boxing fans on a global stage. Now that news just broke while writing this that Jesus Ramos Jnr will no longer be fighting due to an illness, Blancas’ fight is now the co-main, so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles this position he has been placed in.
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