David Benavidez says he’s taking the fight against highly rated light heavyweight David Morrell on February 1st because he wants toshut up people.”
This fight is at least two to three years old because the former amateur Cuban star Morrell called Benavidez for several years and got nowhere. He didn’t want to fight him and was taking on lesser fighters.
Benavidez with a chip on his shoulder
“The Mexican Monster” Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO) wants to show people that he is “no fear” of 175 lb WBA ‘regular’ champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and will face the young phenom in the main event on PBC on Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a fight where Benavidez has to prove he’s as good as he’s made out to be.
For the past two years, fans have questioned Benavidez’s courage, dragging him to avoid the frequent calls of Cuban Morrell Jr. It was impossible for people not to notice that Benavidez was fighting lesser opposition like David Lemieuz, Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.
It didn’t take a genius to recognize that Benavidez wasn’t the brave person he made himself out to be. He was just a cruiserweight who could make weight at 168 to fight the smaller guys while trying hard to get a fight against Canelo Alvarez and the giant payday that comes from such a fight.
Benavidez didn’t look good in his first fight at lightweight against Oleksander Gvozdyk on June 15, and that performance showed that he’s only a mid-volume puncher now that he’s fighting guys close to the his normal weight class. He still looks like a cruiserweight after he rehydrates, but at lightweight, he’s at least semi-close to where he should be.
Morrell: The Most Dangerous Fighter at 175
“Even though he didn’t look too good, he had performances where he looked good. A lot of people say he’s the most dangerous fighter. Take him,” said David Benavidez to ESNEWStalking about David Morrell before his February 1st fight in Las Vegas.
Morrell is the biggest puncher in the 175lb division, with real punching power in each hand, and if he lands, he’s capable of knocking anyone out. What is missing is the combination of punches to finish off his enemies. Morrell didn’t need to be a combination puncher when he fought at 168 because he was so powerful, but it’s a different story now that he’s at 175.
To get knockouts in this weight class you need to put the shots together and finish your opponents with flurries. Benavidez is going to have a tougher transition to light heavyweight because he only has average power and not the amazing one-punch KO ability that Morrell possesses. He is not blessed in that department. Benavidez is more of a blue collar, 9 to 5 type of fighter.
The fight Benavidez is referring to is Morrell, 26, who had not looked “too good” against the powerful lightweight contender. Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic on August 3 in Los Angeles.
It was Morrell’s debut at 175, going against a fighter he had only lost once in the last eight years, and that was against Artur Beterbiev in 2019. Morrell also injured Kalajdzic several times in the fight, leaving him on the verge of being beaten. out of.
Morrell’s reliance on throwing single shots instead of combinations and flurries prevented him from getting the stoppage. That’s how Beterbiev knocked out Kalajdzic in the fifth round five years ago.
Benavidez looked worse in his debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15, gasping after six rounds and taking a knock in the last six. This fight should have been a draw, but the Nevada judges gave it to Benavidez by a wide decision.
It was not surprising because of its popularity, but it was not a real victory. Fans fell for Benavidez afterward, and even Canelo Alvarez piled on, noting he wasn’t the same fighter at 175.
The Mexican monster wants to reduce doubts
“I want to shut people down and prove that I’m the best. I’m not afraid of any challenge. That’s what we do,” Benavidez said.
This fight with Morrell could do the opposite of turning people off against Benavidez. It could cause an avalanche of criticism following a knockout loss to the Cuban talent. Even a decision defeat for Benavidez would result in him being permanently ostracized by the fans, and he never heard the end of it.
Obviously, Benavidez’s futile hopes that he still desperately leans on the Canelo fight will be forever dashed. It probably won’t stop him from continuing to delude himself into believing there would always be a chance, but it would never happen.
February 1 PPV Undercard
– Brandon Figueroa vs Stephen Fulton Jr 2 – co-feature
– Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Angel Fierro,
– Jesus Ramos Jr. vs. Jason Rosario
