David Benavidez feels that he’s forever indebted to Gennadiy Golovkin, a former middleweight king and recently anointed Hall of Fame fighter.

From 15-19, Benavidez was one of Golovkin’s primary sparring partners. Benavidez sparred with Golovkin until he fought Daniel Jacobs in 2017, just before the Kazakh KO artist’s first of three bouts against Canelo Alvarez.

“I only had 15 amateur fights — my amateur career was sparring world champions,” Benavidez said recently after beating Anthony Yarde.

“I give Gennadiy Golovkin all of the credit he deserves because he's the reason why I am the fighter that I am today. When I was sparring him, those were real fights. He would push me to new levels, so I would have to find different ways to get out of the way because he was punching with everything. He made me learn more and raised my IQ, just by being in there with him. Hats off to Golovkin. He's a great man and a great champion, inside and outside the ring. I owe him a lot. I learned a lot from him. I am the fighter I am today because of those sparring sessions.”

Ever since evolving from the Golovkin days, Benavidez (31-0, 25 KOs) has matured as a top pound-for-pound fighter during a pro career that kicked off in 2013. He’s rated eighth pound-for-pound by The Ring.

Benavidez is a two-time super middleweight titleholder who is the WBC light heavyweight champion. He's set to face WBA and WBO cruiserweight champion Gilberto Ramirez on May 2 in Las Vegas.