Light heavyweight contender Radivoje Kalajdzic says the key to David Morrell defeating David Benavidez is staying “composed” for the first six to eight rounds in their 175-pound headliner bout this Saturday, February 1 at the T – Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
This Saturday, Benavidez vs. Morrell will be shown live on PBC on Prime Video PPV. Morrell’s “regular” WBA lightweight title will be on the line, and Benavidez will have his interim WBC 175lb belt on the line. The World Boxing Council has already determined that the Benavidez-Morrell winner will be mandatory for Artur Beterbiev’s belt.
Radivoje fought Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) on August 3rd in Los Angeles last year and knows what he can do against Benavidez. He notes that Benavidez fought “smaller guys” his entire career, living at 168 rather than 175. That’s why “The Mexican Monster” Benavidez was called a “weight bully”, like other fighters of this type, he did well. However, when Benavidez finally moved up to 175, he looked bang on average.
When Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) squared off against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, the 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion, on June 15 of last year, he wasn’t hitting hard because the former champion was not loaded on his shots. . He was pushing them.
On Saturday, this will be the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year career that he will face a man his size who will hit him hard. Radivoje is interested to see how Benavidez handles Morrell’s size and power.
The Serbian-born Radivojoe (29-3, 21 KOs) punches harder than Benavidez, and Morrell took his power well in winning a 12-round decision.
Morrell’s strategy
“If he can stay composed and stay calm during the first six to eight rounds, because Benavidez, all he has and all he does is pressure. Eventually he will slow down. So, stay composed, pick your shots, and move because he can box “, said Radivoje Kalajdzic to YSM Sports Media about how David Morrell can defeat David Benavidez this Saturday night February 1st.
“Don’t be the aggressor. I think he can pull it off, but it will be a close fight overall,” Radivoje continued about the Benavidez vs. Morrell contest.
“David Benavidez has fought smaller guys throughout his career. He’s always been the bigger guy, so when he fought (Oleksandr) Gvozdyk, Gvozdyk wasn’t really that strong of a puncher. So, I don’t know. This It will be the first test. We’ll see how Benavidez will do, or will he just wipe out Morrell?” said Radivoje.
Benavidez is going to try to walk Morrell down because that’s how he’s always fought and the style that his father, Jose Benavidez Jr., teaches; however, as we saw last Saturday night with Jose Jr’s fighter, Omar Salcido, in his one-sided loss to Cuban. Andy Cruzthat high-pressure style doesn’t work against talented fighters.
Benavidez will be hit hard by Morrell, and could take a boxing lesson from him in this contest. The way Benavidez fights is exactly how Cruz defeated Salcido: Jab, potshot, move, and attack.
Cruz waited until the second half to start pressuring Salcido, and it was one-sided. The Cuban Morrell can do the same thing because Benavidez is even more sloppy and wreckless than Salcido. Benavidez makes them look like a master boxer in comparison.
Untested waters
“This will be a great test for both of them. I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know how he (Benavidez) will react to guys of his size punching back. So, we’ll see,” said Radivoje on how the boxing fans will see how Benavidez reacts to fight against the equally great Morrell.
This will be an interesting test, showing how well Benavidez can withstand his first big puncher in his 12-year career. As Radivoje pointed out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk wasn’t punching that hard. He was mainly pumping his fists, looking like he was trying to conserve energy to keep from gassing.
When Gvozdyk started loading up on his shots late in the fight, he gave Benavidez massive problems and took control in the later rounds. By then, it was too much for Gvozdyk, and he couldn’t pull off the win because he had given too many rounds throwing with partial power.
In the 12th, Gvozdyk injured Benavidez with a body blow to the right hand shot straight into the pipe. That punch knocked the wind out of Benavidez, as he didn’t throw punches for the rest of the round after taking that blow to the breadbasket.
