David Benavidez’s father Jose Benavidez Sr says he wants undisputed lightweight champion Artur Beterbiev if they successfully defeat WBA “regular” champion David Morrell in their January 25 fight.
Jose Sr. thinks Beterbiev would be a good fight for Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs). He would also like Dmitry Bivol for his son because it would give him an opportunity to beat someone who beat Canelo Alvarez in 2022.
Jose Sr. it’s still bitter that Canelo chose not to fight Benavidez all these years and then recently said a $200 million asking price to fight him. If Bivol loses the rematch with Beterbiev, it won’t be worth fighting.
Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) will be the guy Benavidez will fight if he beats Bivol in their rematch in 2025. The second fight has yet to be confirmed, but is likely.
The worst nightmare for Benavidez would be Beterbiev losing the rematch with Bivol and then the two fighters meeting in a trilogy. Benavidez should wait for the third fight to happen between those guys before he hangs on to the belts.
“David’s next fight is David Morrell. Everyone is super excited about it. We’ve been trying to make this fight for three years, but I believe that David Morrell needed a little more experience to show the world that he deserves this fight ” said Jose Benavidez Sr. Probox TV about David Benavidez Cuban fighter David Morrell next January 25.
Obviously, Team Benavidez hasn’t tried too hard to make the fight with Morrell for the past three years because they’ve been the ones ignoring him. If they wanted to fight Morrell, it would have happened a long time ago.
They waited until now, after Morrell’s unimpressive performance against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, before deciding they wanted to fight.
“David called him and said, ‘Hey, I want to do this fight.’ Let’s make it happen. It was done right away. I’m super excited to fight a young talent, a strong fighter, and I think it’s going to be a tough fight,” said Jose Sr. on how the fight with Morrell was finally made.
“Hopefully, we can have the opportunity to fight Beterbiev. He just won on Saturday. So, hopefully, we can achieve this, but now, we are focused on David Morrell. We have to look impressive to go to the next level,” said Benavidez Sr. .
If Benavidez loses to Morrell, Jose Sr. He will have to decide which direction to take his son. Will he drop him back down to 168 or will he bump up to 175, hoping to capture one of the belts after Beterbiev vacates?
