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Charlo was returning from a two-and-a-half year lay-off on the undercard of his opponent's brother David Benavidez, having not boxed since mid-2021 due to injuries and mental health issues. Benavidez Jr was selected as a capable comeback opponent for the ten-rounder, but the favourite was of course expected to deal with him comfortably. However, questions were raised about Charlo as he significantly missed weight for the 163lbs catchweight bout, coming in at , and so lost a portion of his purse before the first bell even rang. When it did get underway, the fight began with a tentative opening couple of minutes which allowed the underdog to build some initially had the look of a boxer who'd been inactive for a long period, though began to find some rhythm at the end of the first. Benavidez Jr tried to back the WBC middleweight world champion up against the ropes, but was nailed with a hard counter right hand that clearly staggered him. Despite this, Benavidez Jr applied similar tactics in round two, which saw back-and-forth action between the pair. At the start of the third he did the same once more and looked to be trying to rough Charlo up regardless of his size disadvantage.
