David Morrell Jr. (11-0, 9 KOs) and David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will be meeting next week on Tuesday, November 19th for the press conference in Los Angeles to promote their light heavyweight headliner on PBC on PPV on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Morrell-Benavidez press conference will be held at The NOVO at L.A. Live. It’s an early start for the promotion, but it’s important because it will require time to promote the event. What’s lacking is a solid co-feature bout.
With all the talking that Benavidez has done about being avoided by Canelo Alvarez, he’s got to show that he was as good as he made himself out to be. Most, if not all, of Benavidez’s wins during his career were against B-level fighters.
On February 1st, Benavidez will be fighting his first A-level guy David Morrell, and this is his chance to show that he deserves the ‘Mexican Monster’ nickname given to him by Mike Tyson.
Undercard
– Brandon Figuera Jr. vs. Stephen Fulton rematch
– Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz vs. Angel Fierro
– Jesus Ramos Jr. vs. Jeison Rosario
Benavidez needs to show that he belongs at 175 because he did not look anywhere near good to be taken seriously in his debut in that new weight class against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th. There are a lot of doubts about whether Benavidez can withstand the hard punches from the Cuban Morrell, who is more suited to the division due to his power.
Benavidez is a spray fighter who wins by landing a lot of shots, and he took some massive shots in his last fight against Gvozdyk. He cannot afford to let Morrell hit him with the same punches without the risk of getting knocked out. Even Benavidez can be hurt if he gets hit repeatedly by Morrell, who may be the biggest puncher in the light heavyweight division today.
On the undercard, WBC Featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa Jr. faces his old nemesis, Stephen Fulton Jr., in a rematch. Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) hopes to avenge his only career loss from 2021 by beating Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs). This is the best fight on paper on the February 1st undercard.
Light Welterweight Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs) looks to get back to his winning ways in a ten-round fight against Angel Fierro (22-2-2, 17 KOs). This is a make-or-break fight for the 26-year-old Pitbull Cruz because he completely dominated in his last fight against Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela on August 3rd, losing a 12-round split decision at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
The judges were very generous with the scoring because Rayo should have won 11-1 or 10-2. Cruz was taken to school by the ‘Mexican Loma’ in that fight.
Junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos Jr. (21-1, 17 KOs) faces former IBF and WBA champion Jeison Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KOs). This is a fight that Ramos Jr. will need to impress in to make fans forget his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Erickson Lubin last year on September 30, 2023.
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