David Benavidez says he’s taking the fight against the highly rated light heavyweight David Morrell on February 1st because he wants to “shut people up.”
This fight is long overdue by at least two to three years because former Cuban amateur star Morrell has been calling out Benavidez for several years and has gotten nowhere. Benavidez didn’t want to fight him for obvious reasons.
He was chasing a Canelo payday, and Morrell could have ended any chances of that fight from happening. The fact that it took this long for Benvidez to finally face Morrell already made it clear to the fans that he was flat-out scared of the Cuban fighter, even if he didn’t want to admit it. People’s actions betray what’s really lurking inside.
Benavidez With A Chip on His Shoulder
‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) wants to show people he’s “not scared” of WBA ‘regular’ 175-lb champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and will be facing the young phenom in the main event on PBC on Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a fight where Benavidez must prove that he’s as good as he’s made himself out to be.
For the last two years, fans have questioned Benavidez’s courage, trashing him for avoiding the Cuban Morrell Jr’s frequent callouts. It was impossible for people not to notice that Benavidez was fighting lesser opposition while David Lemieuz, Caleb Plant, and Demetrius Andrade.
It didn’t take a genius to recognize that Benavidez wasn’t the courageous person that he’d led people to believe about him. He was just a cruiserweight who could make weight at 168 to fight smaller guys while trying hard to get a fight against Canelo Alvarez and the giant payday that would come from such a fight.
Benavidez did not look good in his first fight at light heavyweight against Oleksander Gvozdyk on June 15th, and that performance showed that he’s just an average volume puncher now that he’s fighting guys near his normal weight class. He still looks like a cruiserweight after he rehydrates, but at light heavyweight, he’s at least semi-close to where he should be.
Morrell: The Most Dangerous Fighter At 175?
“Even if he didn’t look too good, he had performances where he looked good. A lot of people say he’s the most dangerous fighter. Bring him on,” said David Benavidez to ESNEWS, talking about David Morrell ahead of their February 1st fight in Las Vegas.
Morrell is the biggest puncher in the 175-lb division, with true one-punch power in either hand and if he lands, he’s capable of knocking out anyone. What he lacks is the combination punching to finish off his foes. Morrell didn’t need to be a combination puncher when he fought at 168 because he was so powerful, but it’s a different story now that he’s at 175.
To get knockouts in this weight class requires putting shots together and finishing off one’s opponents with flurries. Benavidez is going to have a tougher transition to light heavyweight because he has only average power and not the stunning one-punch KO ability that Morrell possesses. He’s not blessed in that department. Benavidez is more of a blue-collar, 9 to 5 type of fighter.
The fight Benavidez is referring to is about Morrell, 26, not having looked “too good” against the powerful light heavyweight contender Radivoje ‘Hot Rod’ Kalajdzic on August 3rd in Los Angeles.
That was Morrell’s debut at 175, going up against a fighter that had only lost once in the past eight years, and that was against Artur Beterbiev in 2019. Morrell still hurt Kalajdzic several times in the fight, leaving him on the brink of being knocked out.
Morrell’s reliance on throwing single shots instead of combinations and flurries prevented him from getting the stoppage. That was how Beterbiev knocked Kalajdzic out in the fifth round five years ago.
Benavidez looked worse in his debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th, gassing after six rounds and taking a beating in the final six. That fight should have been a draw, but the Nevada judges gave it to Benavidez by a wide decision.
It wasn’t surprising due to his popularity, but it was NOT a true win. Fans dumped on Benavidez afterward, and even Canelo Alvarez piled on, noting that he wasn’t the same fighter at 175.
The Mexican Monster’ Wants To Quiet Doubters
“I want to shut people up and prove that I am the best. I’m not scared of no challenges. That’s what we do,” said Benavidez.
This fight with Morrell might do the opposite of shutting people up against Benavidez. It could cause an avalanche of criticism in the aftermath of a knockout loss to the Cuban talent. Even a decision defeat for Benavidez would result in him getting permanently dumped on by fans, and he’d never hear the end of it.
Obviously, Benavidez’s futile hopes that he’s still desperately holding onto about fighting Canelo would be dashed for good. It probably wouldn’t stop him from continuing to trick himself into believing there would still be a chance, but it would never happen.
February 1st PPV Undercard
– Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton Jr 2 – co-feature
– Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz vs. Angel Fierro,
– Jesus Ramos Jr. vs. Jeison Rosario
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