Chris Algieri is leaning toward David Benavidez beating David Morrell at 175 in early 2025. He feels Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is the bigger guy at lightweight than Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs ), who holds the WBA. “Regular” title of 175 lbs.
At 168, Algieri feels Morrell could win because of the difficulties Benavidez has getting down to that weight. The two fighters are scheduled to meet on January 25th in a bout that has not yet been made official.
Benavidez, 27, recently made his debut at 175, defeating former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk by a 12-round unanimous decision on June 15 to win the interim World Boxing Council belt.
He didn’t look good in the debut, he ran out of gas after six rounds and took a lot of heavy shots from Gvozdyk in rounds 7 to 12. If Benavidez fights like this against Morrell, he might get knocked out because he punches harder than that. Gvozdyk and will hit him with massive blows.
“I probably favor Benavidez because he’s at 175. If he was at 168, I might favor Morrell,” Chris Algieri told Inside Boxing Live about the David Morrell vs. David Benavidez fight in early 2025. “I think David Benavidez fighting to get down to 168 took a little bit off him, even though he had the advantage of being the bigger guy. I think that Morrell was perfect for 168. Such an incredible physique for that weight class. The power, the length, everything.
Benavidez-Morrell will be at 175, not 168, because both guys have given up the super-middleweight division because there are more opportunities for interesting fights in the lightweight division. Canelo Alvarez is doing other things with his career at 168 and has never shown any interest in fighting Benavidez or Morrell.
Morrell could be a problem for Benavidez at 175 if he can increase his work rate from what he showed in his debut in the division against Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic on August 3rd. The undefeated Morrell was losing on single shots and wasn’t taking advantage of the many times he hurt Kalajdzic because he wasn’t putting his punches in combination form.
The fight ended up being tougher than it should have been for Morrell because of the positive side. Benavidez chose Morrell because he didn’t look bad, and he wouldn’t have had to fight him if he had shined against Hotrod.
“I think at 175, I favor Benavidez. At 168, I can favor Morrell. That’s great,” said Algieri, “However, this fight, whatever weight class it happens to be, is a very tough fight. It’s a fight very tight. I’m very glad it’s on the docket. I can’t wait until we get there. It’s an exciting time to have these guys fighting each other.”
If Morrell wins, there will be a lot of fans rooting for Benavidez to take this fight when he didn’t have to. He might just be waiting for his mandatory title shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev.
