When David Benavidez steps into the ring for the first defense of his WBC light heavyweight title on Saturday against Anthony Yarde, he’ll have his father by his side.

Before he moved up to 175 pounds last year, though, his boxing journey alongside Jose Benavidez Sr. appeared to be over.

At a career crossroads, Benavidez nearly parted ways with him. They have since smoothed things over, and both believe their relationship is as strong as it has ever been heading into “The Ring IV: Night of Champions” Saturday on DAZN PPV when he faces Anthony Yarde at ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“It has its ups and it has its downs, but we’re men,” Benavidez told The Ring about his father. “We're mature enough to navigate this relationship. Without my father, I would not be where I am today. Without my father, I would have quit boxing a long time ago.

"My father, he's always stuck me to the plan. He's always stuck me to the script, and he's always supported me in my dream. I'm very grateful for my father.”

Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) isn’t the only fighter on the card trained by his father. WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman Jr., Devin Haney and Abdullah Mason also have their fathers as their chief seconds heading into their title bouts.

Norman (28-0, 22 KOs) faces Haney (32-0, 15 KOs), while Mason will look to become the youngest male champion in boxing when he faces Sam Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs) for the vacant WBO lightweight title.

Mason and his four brothers were like any other family who were ingrained in sports growing up. They participated in recreational sports and mixed martial arts.

One day, their father, Valiant Mason, asked if any of them would be interested in taking up the sweet science.

Abdullah was the first to throw on the pair of gloves, and he hasn’t looked back since. Not long after, the rest of his brothers followed suit.

It didn’t take long for Valiant to see the potential in Abdullah. For Abdullah, it was after a training session that he realized how far boxing could take him and his family if the stars aligned.

“I was around like 12 or 13, and all my brothers were training,” Mason told The Ring. “It was a great training session and I remember thinking to myself at the time, ‘If I actually stay locked in like this with my brothers and putting in good work [and] if this is something we continue to do, then I could be one of the best fighters in the sport.’”

Mason has since become a rising star in the sport and could win his first world title at just 21 years old if he were to beat Noakes. For the father-son duo, achieving the feat together alongside the rest of their family would make it that much more special.

“It’s my reality, and it feels right,” Abdullah said. “Anything we do, we’re going to do it together. This is how it's supposed to be.”

“It’s beautiful,” his father said. “This is life in real time. We’re looking at some really profound moments and some great times in history. They’ll be able to pass it on to their folks. I love it.”

Many boxers accidentally find their way into the sport. Haney was no different.

He was getting into trouble for fighting in school. His father, Bill Haney, had reached his breaking point.

“My dad was like, ‘If you want to fight in school, I’m going to take you to the boxing gym,'” Haney told The Ring. “You’re going to learn a lesson. You’re going to get beat up. Every time you keep fighting in school, I’m going to keep bringing you back to the gym.'”

Haney didn’t immediately fall in love with boxing. He still preferred football because of the team aspect, whereas he viewed putting on the gloves as a "chore" and "punishment."

But as he progressed, he saw where boxing could take him. Now, he’s a former undisputed and two-division champion and will have a chance to become a world champion in a third division when he faces Norman.

And he'll have his father standing next to him if that happens.

“Boxing has given me everything,” Haney said.

For six months, Benavidez was still searching for that something. He hadn't spoken to his father during that span after he relocated from Phoenix to Miami.

He was trying to reshuffle the pieces of his life. He even wondered if boxing would be in the cards despite being a two-time world champion in his prime.

It was an agonizing period for Jose Sr. because he was unable to get in touch with his son. Eventually, he resigned himself to not being his trainer anymore.

“It was super tough for me, because he wanted to get away from me. ... It was very sad,” he told The Ring. “I called him, and I checked my phone. I checked my phone and got nothing back. Sent him a text, nothing back. It was devastating. It was heartbreaking.

"Finally, I gave up. Finally, I said I tried, and that's all I could do. I'll support him from far away.”

Benavidez had grown tired of having his father on his case. He'd been there since he took up the sport at three years old.

After bouncing around gyms in Miami, it was time to prepare for his fight vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk. That meant needing to get a new trainer and team.

Eventually, Benavidez realized his team would be incomplete without one key figure.

“I kept thinking I wouldn't feel right continuing this path that I'm on without having my father by my side,” he said. “That's when I realized I'd rather stop boxing than leave my father.”

That's when Jose checked his phone. It was the call he'd been longing for the last six months. They talked, and they managed to get on the same page.

“Since they were little, I was really hard on them,” Jose said about David and his older brother, Jose Jr. who also boxes. “I wanted to make them real tough, and that ruined the relationship a little bit. There's a moment when they're like grown up, and you still think that they're little. I had to make a lot of adjustments, and had stepped back and let them be men.

"Making all those adjustments got us closer than ever."

Boxing has often been referred to as the loneliest sport.

For Benavidez, Haney and Mason, their fathers make it feel not so lonely.

“He's the most important piece in my corner,” Mason said of Valiant. “Inside the ring, outside the ring, he always gives me tips and different views on things. He always pushes me to be better, whether that's in training or my mindset. I'm grateful for that.”

Haney has never had to look far to find his.

“My father has been with me every step of the journey,” he said. “Through the ups and downs, my father has always been there.”

Haney believes having Bill in his corner is an advantage, given the depth and dynamic of their relationship.

“Who better to listen to when things are getting tough or when you need to hear something than your father?” he said. “A lot of sons, we look to our father in our time of need. What better time to look for him than when you’re in a boxing ring and putting it all on the line, and the voice you hear is your father’s?"

For Benavidez, his achievements mean that much more. Saturday could represent another achievement on their journey that they started and will finish together.

“We're not even done,” he said. “We still have a long way to go. I became the youngest champion in super middleweight history when I was 20 years old. I have six belts at home, but we can still go and get another six, another seven. I still want to be unified champion. I still want to go up to cruiserweight. There's still a lot of stuff on the table that there is left to accomplish. The job is not done.

"I'm not going to give any other trainer the glory for that. This is something that me and my father started, and we're going to keep going.”