WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell Jr. and WBC interim belt-holder David Benavide will meet in a kickoff Press Conference next Tuesday, November 19th to discuss their fight on February 1st on PBC on Prime Video PPV.
The Morrell-Benavidez press conference next Tuesday will be held in Los Angeles at The NOVO at LA Live. Interestingly, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is given top billing ahead of Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) despite holding only an interim title.
Morrell should have his name ahead of Benavidez in the posters for the fight. If the Cuban knockout artist Morrell beats Benavidez, he’ll have his name first if there’s a rematch, which is likely to happen. The management for Benavidez at Premier Boxing Champions will surely make a second fight to give ‘The Mexican Monster’ a chance to redeem himself.
Undercard
Brandon Figueroa Jr. vs. Stephen Fulton
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Angel Fierro
Jesus Ramos Jr. vs. Jason Rosario
Figueroa vs. Fulton 2 Rematch
In the co-feature on the February 1st card, WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa Jr. (25-1-1, 19 KOs) will defend against former WBC and WBO super bantamweight champion Stephen Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) in a rematch of their fight three years ago on November 27, 2021. Fulton outboxed Figueroa, winning a 12-round majority decision.
Fulton’s career hasn’t gone well since his win, losing to Naoya Inoue by an eighth-round technical knockout last year on July 25, 2023. The fight was a pure mismatch, as Inoue took advantage of Fulton’s weak power to piece him up before finishing him off in the eighth round.
Figueroa, 27, is just now coming into his prime and will follow Inoue’s blueprint to the letter to blast holes in Fulton, landing power shots until he folds up. It could be an easy knockout. ‘Cool By Steph’ Fulton isn’t the same fighter at featherweight as he was at 122, and he doesn’t possess the power to be a factor in this division.
Fulton’s chin looked like Swiss cheese in his last fight against the non-puncher Carlos Castro on September 14th, getting dropped in the fifth and staggered multiple times. The 30-year-old Fulton came on in the end to win a narrow 10-round majority decision against an exhausted-looking Castro. Had the Mexican fighter not faded, he would have knocked out Fulton because he was hurting him with his shots through the first six rounds.
Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Angel Fierro
Also, on February 1st, Benavidez vs. Morrell card, light welterweight Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs) will fight Angel Fierro (22-2-2, 17 KOs). Both guys are coming off of losses and need a victory to stay in contention.
Pitbull Cruz lost to Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela by a 12-round split decision on August 3rd in Los Angeles. Fierro lost to Alfredo Santiago by a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision on June 15th in Manati, Puerto Rico.
