Path to a championship belt starts in Glendale for David Benavidez, David Lemieux

Boxers often engage in a war of words prior to the big-time fights. That isn't the case with David Benavidez and David Lemieux, the two combatants in Saturday night's Premier Boxing Champions Showtime pay-per-view main event from Gila River Arena.

A month ago, Benavidez complimented Lemieux for agreeing to the fight relatively quickly, and with both fighters being heavy punchers who don't figure to do a lot of avoiding each other in the ring, the action fans want to see is realistically possible.

Plus the interim WBC super middleweight title is on the line, and the winner goes to the head of the line for a true title shot with the belt having been vacated by Canelo Alvarez, perhaps even against Alvarez himself at some point.

Both fighters are wide open to that arrangement.

The 25-year-old Benavidez, undefeated at 25-0 with 22 knockouts, is the WBC's top-ranked contender. Lemieux (43-4, 36 KOs) is No. 2.

Benavidez, fighting in the Phoenix metro area for the second time in about six months, says he'd rather approach things like a gentleman.

"Yeah, there's a lot of respect. He hasn't been disrespectful at all. I haven't been disrespectful," Benavidez said. "I feel like that's how true men act. We don't have to disrespect each other to know that this is going to be a great fight. You know, we can let all the talking be done on Saturday night."

This week is Lemieux's first visit to the Phoenix area, and the heat for a guy from Montreal is an adjustment. But the 33-year-old Lemieux is battle-tested, experienced, and has held world titles at 160 pounds.

Read more: David Benavidez aims for stoppage of veteran David Lemieux

"You know David Lemieux, he's never refused a fight. And he's always taken any fight if it makes sense," Lemieux said. "You know, when we had big fights in the past, we always took them and we never went around fighters. As a professional, as a world champion, I believe, every guy in your division, you've got to be ready to fight him. So we do think that that was the guy to fight (Benavidez), so let's do it. I'm here for the title."

José Benavidez, David's father and trainer, said his son José Benavidez Jr., who is trying to revive his once-promising boxing career, is training for a fight that could come in July or August. An official announcement of that fight could come as soon as next week. The younger Benavidez, also raised in Phoenix, was there with his brother for Friday's weigh-in, at which both fighters came in under the 168-pound limit.

"I'm nervous to be here in front of all my people," José Benavidez Sr. said. "Every other place that we've fought it's like nothing. But here, I just feel that we have to do a little bit more in front of our people. I feel like everybody's watching."

Read more: Phoenix's David Benavidez hopes WBC title leads to eventual shot at star Canelo Alvarez

At Thursday's pre-fight press conference, the general pleasantries continued between Benavidez and Lemieux, including after a guarantee from Benavidez that "somebody is going to get knocked out."

"Copy and paste what he said," Lemieux answered, drawing laughs from those in attendance in a club area of Gila River Arena.

The most intriguing verbal exchanges from the press conference came from the four fighters on the two Showtime broadcast bouts before the main event.

Mexico's Jonathan Fierro told Luis Nuñez of the Dominican Republic, both featherweights, that Nuñez's island nation is best known for baseball while Mexico is the land of superior boxing talent. And veteran Jorge Cota of Mexico told his super welterweight opponent, Cuba's Yoelvis Gomez, that he felt insulted to be matched against a guy with only five pro fights.

Gomez fought a lot of amateur bouts in Cuba before coming to the U.S.

"f he feels disrespected he has to show it," Gomez said in Spanish. "The fight will last however long my fists dictate."

"Look out, because we can steal the show," Cota said of his fight, the co-main event.

The full card on Saturday includes three local products with bouts, including Mesa natives Jesús Abel Ibarra and Micky Scala, and Avondale's Elijah Garcia.

Scala (5-0, three knockouts) faces Mike Plazola of Iowa (2-1) in a six-round welterweight fight. It's Scala's first scheduled six-rounder, and Scala, who is signed to Mayweather Promotions, said he has no intention of the fight lasting that long.

"It will be more than enough time to break my opponent down and get him out of there," Scala said.

Ibarra, 23, is 13-0 and has been a professional for five years. All of his fights but one have taken place in the Phoenix metro area. Ibarra takes on Mexico's Moises Flores (25-6-1) at super featherweight in what figures to be the biggest test of his career so far.

Middleweight Garcia (10-0, 9 knockouts) faces  California's Rowdy Montgomery (7-3-1) in a bout scheduled for six rounds. Garcia, 19, fought on the last Benavidez card in November at Footprint Center, and has two wins at the downtown Phoenix building.

Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM. 

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Knockout artists Benavidez, Lemieux leave talk for boxing gloves, ring