David Benavidez and David Morrell Jnr make weight before making war

LAS VEGAS – We’ve seen thrown belts, potty-mouthed promoters and performative tussles that seemed uncommonly close to turning into the real thing. David Benavidez swears that the bad blood with David Morrell Jnr is real, and now that all the pre-fight formalities are in the books – including Friday’s weigh-in at the MGM Grand Studio Tower – we get to find out if it’s true.

Benavidez and Morrell came in on weight – both at 174.2lbs – for their light heavyweight 12-round fight Saturday at T-Mobile Arena after an intense build-up to a fight that could line up the winner to fight the last man standing after undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev rematches with Dmitry Bivol on February 22 in Saudi Arabia.

Benavidez, 29-0 (24 KOs), the former super middleweight titleholder whose years-long chase of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez proved fruitless, is now angling for the biggest game at light heavyweight. From the sounds of Friday’s weigh-in, Alvarez – dubbed “The Mexican Monster” – invited the entirety of Phoenix to tag along to Vegas.

“I’m gonna beat the fuck out of David Morrell,” Benavidez said to wild cheers from the weigh-in dais, “and he’s gonna find out who ‘The Mexican Monster’ is then.”

Since a belt-throwing incident earlier in the promotion, Morrell has been the calmer combatant, often smiling, blowing kisses and, on Thursday, offering blessings of “peace and love.” When asked by the weigh-in presenter what he thought about Benavidez’ previous promise to “break his face,” Morrell seemed unaffected.

“I know what he’s about, and it’s all fake,” Morrell said through a translator. “So I’m going to be ready to do what I’ve got to do.”

In the co-main, Brandon Figueroa, 25-1-1 (19 KOs) and Stephen Fulton Jnr, 22-1 (8 KOs), hit their marks for their 12-round featherweight title fight – a rematch of their 2021 battle, in which Figueroa won by majority decision and Fulton suffered his only career defeat to date. Figueroa weighed in at 125.8, while Fulton weighed 126.0.

Fan favorite Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz, 26-3-1 (18 KOs) has promised to steal the show in his all-Mexico junior welterweight matchup with Angel Fierro, 23-2-2 (18 KOs), which no one is putting past him – or Fierro. Cruz (138.6) and Fierro (139.0) will square up over a scheduled 10 rounds and compete for the just-created Guerrero Azteca – or “Aztec Warrior” – belt celebrating Mexico’s fighting culture and rich history of boxing wars.

The Prime Video pay-per-view portion of the event (which can be purchased in the US, UK and Canada, regardless of Prime membership) will begin at 8 p.m. ET. Preliminary fights can be streamed on Prime Video before the PPV and are available free to all, regardless of Prime membership or purchase of the PPV starting at 6 p.m. ET.

More complete weigh-in results are as follows (and will be updated with full results ASAP):

Light heavyweights – 12 rounds

David Benavidez (174.2lbs) vs David Morrell Jnr (174.2lbs)

Featherweights – 12 rounds (WBC title)

Brandon Figueroa (125.8) vs. Stephen Fulton Jnr (126.0)

Junior welterweights – 10 rounds

Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz (138.6) vs Angel Fierro (139.0)

Middleweights – 10 rounds

Jesus Ramos Jnr (159.0) vs Jeison Rosario (159.2)

Featherweights – 10 rounds

Christian Olivo (125.6) vs Mirco Cuello (125.6)

Middleweights – 10 rounds

Angel Ruiz (159.6) vs Yoenli Hernandez (158.4)