David Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz is unsure if he will fight “regular” WBA lightweight champion David Morrell in December.
When asked if the Benavidez-Morrell fight happened later, Lewkowicz said that Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) is promoted by his lawyer, and it would be a conflict of interest to represent him. Lewkowicz says he’s not sure if Morrell will be next, and won’t say if Jesse Hart could be the opponent.
It could be that Benavidez is not willing to put his mandatory WBC spot at risk against Morrell, because if he loses that fight, he will miss a good fight, possibly for the undisputed. Morrell would have an excellent chance of beating Benavidez due to his superior punching power and ability. Benavidez is a very average volume guy now that he fights in his natural weight class at 175 rather than 168.
Fans were hoping to see Benavidez fight Morrell because that would be a huge fight involving two top 175-pounders. The winner could fight for the undisputed or one of the fragmented titles if Artur Beterbiev ends up with the belts. He can move up to cruiserweight if he is victorious in his four-belt bout against Dmitry Bivol on October 12.
“Let me put it this way. (David) Morrell’s promoter has been my lawyer for 30 years. So it would be a conflict of interest to represent me. So I’m out of the deal. I don’t know who he (Benavidez) is with. will fight next and who will be next,” said Sampson Lewkowicz to YSM Sports Mediaif David Benavidez was fighting David Morrell or Jesse Hart later. “For this particular fight, I’m not involved.”
It seems odd that Lewkowicz won’t say if Morrell is a definite possibility for Benavidez or if he’s a 35-year-old fringe. It would be easy enough for Lewkowicz to say if either of them are possible options for Benavidez.
Many fans suspect that it will be Hart that Benavidez will fight because he will want to play it safe and not put his WBC mandatory position at risk against Morrell. Losing a fight against Morrell will not only ruin Benavidez chance for millions he will fight for the undisputed light heavyweight championship in Saudi Arabia, but will permanently cancel his chances for a fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Benavidez is not going to put the crowd at risk by fighting a talent like Cuba’s David Morrell, who could blast him into the next galaxy with one of his power punches.
If he was a gimme-level guy like almost all of Benavidez’s last 29 opponents on his record, he’d probably already be a done deal. Morrell is too dangerous, a very different type of fight than Benavidez has faced during his 11-year career. He is really talented.
