David Benavidez is counting on his professional experience to lead him to victory against the undefeated David Morrell on February 1st in his 12th fight in PBC on Prime Video PPV.
The “Mexican Monster” Benavidez predicts that he will soon be the “Face of Boxing” and that he sees this fight as his “acquisition”. He obviously didn’t lack self-belief going into the Morrell fight.
Benavidez’s confidence
David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says he can’t wait to add Morrell’s “regular” WBA title to his collection. He currently holds the interim WBC 175lb belt, a trinket title that guarantees him a title shot against champion Artur Beterbiev if he is victorious against Morrell.
Benavidez-Morrell are headlining at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is a fight that many boxing fans see as 50-50, but not Benavidez. He sees it as a sure win for him, but it is.
If he were to fight Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia, or even Daniel Dubois, he is probably sure of victory. He’s one of those guys who has a huge ego built up by years of campaigns at 168, and he hasn’t even fought an A-level fighter during his career.
Morrell is the closest thing to being that type of fighter. That’s what makes it interesting: Benavidez will need to prove if he’s as good as he thinks he is. I feel that it is not because his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr., is the same way. He’s lost every time he’s faced off against A-level opposition, but he’s still dead set on winning. This will be Benavidez’s first round, and he may still lose.
PBC PPV Undercard Fights
Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton
Yoenli Hernandez vs. Angel Ruiz Astorga
Isaac Cruz vs. Angel Fierro Barreda
Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr. vs. Jason Rosario
Mirco Cuello vs. Christian Olivo
Experience vs power
“I don’t see the amateur as any (advantage). This is not an amateur fight,” said David Benavidez to the media when asked about the advantage of experience that David Morrell has over him from his days as an amateur star in Cuba.
“This is a 12-round championship fight. He might have an advantage for three rounds because of his amateur (experience), but other than that, three rounds don’t mean anything. I’ve been with the best fighters, and the most places great and the greatest fights. This is my third PPV or fourth.
“So, I have experience on my side. I don’t think he’s ever been in something like this, and I’ll show you why I’m on a different level. He knew he bit off a bigger portion than he could chew,” Benavidez said of Morrell.
Amateur experience matters when a fighter has the kind of success Morrell had in Cuba. As an amateur, he was 130-2, and that could affect this fight if he can handle Benavidez’s pressure. Morrell can’t move for 12 rounds.
He will have to stay on the ground and fight Benavidez for him to win, because if he tries to move like he did in his debut at 175 on August 3rd against Radivoje Kalajdzic, he will lose a decision. Benavidez will have the advantage in punch output, but Morrell can take that one down. That’s what he’s going to do.
Benavidez has a big skull and seems to take shots like they’re nothing. It has a front like a drive-in cinema. The punches Oleksandr Gvozdyk threw at him at full strength had no effect, and were more powerful than the ones he connected with. He took them. However, Morrell hits harder, and he won’t tire with the movement like Gvozdyk did. The 37-year-old looked tired and old in that fight with Benavidez last June.
“I know what I can do. Every high-caliber fighter says the same thing, but once he gets in the ring with me, they say, ‘David Benavidez is on a different level.’ I’m really motivated. I’m excited to go here and get that WBA belt. I don’t have one of those. So I’m very excited to land one of those in my collection,” Benavidez said.
“The Mexican Monster” has yet to fight a “high caliber fighter” during his career. I don’t know that Morrell is even a “high caliber” fighter, but he fights at a higher level than the best guys Benavidez has fought.
Morrell’s power advantage and technical skills make him a threat, especially with the way Benavidez focuses on loading on everything he throws. He is reckless with the way he fights, and he will end up being defeated by fighting like that. Will Morrell be the one to do it? We don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
Therefore, it is not clear who he is talking about. His best wins came against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk, 36-year-old Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant. Those are not “high caliber” fighters.
Andrade was a good fighter years ago when he was at 154, but he was too old and small to fight the lightweight Benavidez at 168. David looked huge as rehydrated for Andrade and did not look like a super middleweight. There was no way Demetrius was going to beat Benavidez with him that much bigger. If things were equal and Andrade was young and the fight was held at 154 in 2012, he would have had a chance, but not at 168 against a much younger Benavidez at lightweight.
Gvozdyk had been retired for four years after being defeated by Artur Beterbiev in 2019. He returned against and beat a couple of tomatoes before being selected by the management of Benanvidez. This was not the first version of Oleksandr who had lost to Beterbiev and defeated Adonis Stevenson.
Does he do boxing?
“This is my take. Seeing the fighters in Vegas, I feel like I could take this. I really entertain and give great fights. I want this for myself. I want to show people that I’m the best. When I go there, everyone sees the level now. I’m just excited to make my dreams come true and become the face of boxing,” said Benavidez.
It will be difficult for Benavidez to become “The Face of Boxing” without beating Morrell or the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch. With the way Benavidez charges every punch, puts everything into it, he’s going to be in trouble against Morrell or Beterbiev if he gets that far.
The way Benavidez fought against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June, it’s going to hurt him a lot. Fortunately for him, Gvozdyk was mostly pushing his punches and not putting maximum power on them. When he started to load up on his shots in the second half, he was lighting up Benavidez with head shots.
In the last 30 seconds of the 12th, he hurt Benavidez with a right hand to the body. Morrell is much faster, younger and more powerful than Gvozdyk. It will hurt Benavidez. I don’t think the “Mexican Monster” can change because that’s how he’s always fought, and he’s incapable of trying to box. When he’s out, he loads up on wild hooks, and that will be a problem against Morrell. He will counter, and we could see a knockout win for Morrell.
