Lonnie Thompson is leaning towards David Benavidez defeating David Morrell in their fight in 30 days on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Thompson sparred with Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and was impressed with his engine and how he attacked his body.
Lonnie B thinks WBC interim light heavyweight champion Benavidez will break WBA ‘regular’ champ Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) with pressure and knock him out at some point in the fight.
Underestimating Morrell
He sees Benavidez as a KO puncher for some reason, but he’s clearly not, especially at 175, where he’s finally facing guys his own size after years of campaigning against smaller fighters at 168. Morrell is a real knockout artist, and if there’s going to be a KO in this fight, it’ll be him who does it.
The true picture is that Benavidez is VERY weak in the upper body and is forced to use volume punching as his route to winning his fights. His strength is on the lower end of the spectrum for light heavyweight contenders. That’s why he was ineffective in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last summer. Benavidez’s lack of upper body strength reminds me of a T-Rex dinosaur’s arms. There’s no power, like a vestigial feature of the long-extinct creature’s withered arms.
“I got David Benavidez. David Morrell is real slick, but he’s got the kind of style where you got to put pressure on him. If you put pressure on him and go to his body, you’ll get him. David [Benavidez] specializes in that,” said Lonnie Thompson to Pro Boxing Fans, guessing that Benavidez will defeat Morrell.
Considering that Morrell hasn’t been beaten, Thompson’s comment about how to beat him is based on guesswork rather than one he’s seen before. No one has beaten Morrell in the pro ranks or come close to it.
“He’s [Benavidez] got to be careful with the slick counters because David Morrell does have a little pop, and he does have slick counters. I think with the way David fights, he’s going to give David Morrell problems because he’s not going to let him be slick, doing all the slick stuff that he does with his feet,” said Thompson.
Morrell has more than a “little pop.” He’s arguably the biggest puncher in the light heavyweight division. So, for Lonnie to be saying that Morrell only has a “little” power, it suggests that he hasn’t properly watched him fight and has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s obviously more familiar with Benavidez than he is with Morrell, which is understandable because he has been a pro for 12 years since 2013 and has a lot of miles on the odometer.
“He’s going to have to keep working and working. There’s going to come a time where he’s going to have to fight David because David [Benvidez] is good at coming and letting his hands go,” said Lonnie B. “So, if David Morrell can catch him in between and hurt him, that’s the only chance I give him to win.”
Nah, Thompson is wrong. Morrell has more of a chance of winning this fight than by knocking out Benavidez. He can beat him by decision by outboxing or out-punching him. His boxing skills are superior to Benavidez’s due to his long amateur career, fighting the top fighters in Cuba and on the world stage.
Benavidez didn’t have that. He turned pro rather than going the amateur route and has always been a pure slugger, mostly due to him fighting in a weight class below his massive light heavyweight frame at super middleweight.
“David Benavidez showed me a lot. After his last fight [Oleksandr Gvozdyk], no, he’s for real,” said Thompson about Benavidez’s last fight against 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
“I don’t think he’s going to have a lot of knockouts, but that kid hit him with some shots. That kid, Oleksandr [Gvozdyk], hit him with some shots, and he can punch. He [Benavidez] took them well and came back and was letting his hands go,” said Lonnie B.
It sounds like Lonnie didn’t watch the Benavidez-Gvozdyk fight. Benavidez didn’t “come back.” He gassed out and took a beating in the entire second half of the fight and was getting the tar beaten out of him by Gvozdyk in rounds 9 through 12. He was getting hit with shots that would knock a hole through a wall.
Yeah, Benavidez took the punches, but he didn’t come back. He was a punching bag in the last four rounds. Lonnie B might have seen highlight clips on YouTube that favored Benavidez, but that’s not how the fight played out in rounds six through twelve. David looked exhausted and weak, getting pummeled by the stronger Gvozdyk.
Thompson’s Prediction
“David Morrell hasn’t been tested like that, though. I’m leaning more toward David Benavidez because I sparred with him,” said Thompson. “He punches really well to the body. Just from my observation, I don’t think David Morrell is going to be able to take that over 12 rounds.”
It would be a mistake for Benavidez to try to go to Morrell’s body because he will leave his head open for power shots. He could end up getting knocked out like Sena Agbeko and Yamaguchi Falcão. Those guys tried to attack Morrell’s body and were quickly knocked out. Benavidez will be a sitting duck if he lowers his hands to target Morrell’s midsection.
“Yeah, but I could be wrong but I think David Benavidez is going to stop him,” said Lonnie B. “David has got one of those styles. When you look at him, you’re like, ‘Okay,’ but when you get in there with him, it’s a lot tougher than I thought.”
Benavidez is not a knockout puncher, and definitely not at 175. The guys he knocked out at 168 were small and old, like Demetrius Andrade, Roamer Alexis Angulo, David Lemieux, and Anthony Dirrell. All of those guys were smaller than Benavidez and 35-ish.
“I thought he’d be there for this shot, but he’s not. His hands are up, he takes a good punch, and he comes back. His work rate is high. You’ve got to be in tip-top position to keep up with him. It’s going to be a good fight, but I’m leaning more toward David Benavidez,” said Lonnie B.
Benavidez will have problems using his volume punching against Morrell because he moves and chooses when he wants to engage with his opponent. His slow feet will make it hard for him to get to Morrell and land his volume. Unfortunately, he moves like Frankenstein’s monster and can only land his shots against stationary fighters.
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