Fans overwhelmingly believe that the experience advantage David Benavidez possesses will lead him to victory over the Cuban David Morrell on Saturday night in their light heavyweight battle on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Experience is overrated. What’s more important is which of these two fighters has the power, chin, and toughness to win. The gas tank is also an essential factor. As we saw in Benavidez’s last fight at 175, he faded after six rounds and took a career’s worth of punishment against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th last year.
Gas Tank Matters
This guy was no spring chicken, but he beat the stuffing out of Benavidez in the second half of that fight. So, stamina is more important than experience in this fight.
If the ‘Mexican Monster’ fades against Morrell in the second half, I wouldn’t want to be him in this situation. Morrell hits harder than Gvozdyk, and he’ll do much more damage. Experience will not help Benaviez take those headshots or punches to the body from Morrell if he’s exhausted.
“We’re not afraid to fight nobody. If you’re going to pay us good money to fight guys like that, let’s make it happen,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. to MillCity Boxing about his son, David Benavidez, being paid well to fight David Morrell, who he feels lacks the experience to win.
Benavidez has more experience against old veterans, but aside from sparring, he hasn’t fought the super-talented fighters to say whether it’s benefited him enough to win this fight.
It’s difficult to say whether Morrell’s experience in the amateurs against the best in the world is superior to the older, washed-up veterans with whom Benavidez’s career resume is filled.
Experience may not be the key to this fight. It might come down to who has the better skills, power, and ring IQ. You can throw the experience junk out the window and focus on who hits harder and is more athletically gifted between Benavidez and Morrell.
Experience Trap
Many people seem to repeat the same mistake: They focus on experience in this fight but miss the more important things, like athletic ability, power, toughness, stamina, and ring intelligence. These are far more important than superficial experience, which isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, especially in Benavidez’s case.
It’s a fact that he’s been a weight bully his entire career until his last fight against an old Gvozdyk, and he looked hellishly bad in that fight. Was it because of his injured hands, as Benavidez says, or him finally fighting against someone his size at 175?
It would mean more if Benavidez was a true super middleweight and if he had fought many of the guys on his resume when they were younger. Would Benavidez be unbeaten if he was fighting guys his size his entire career? It’s doubtful.
If he were fighting at light heavyweight or cruiserweight his entire career against Artur Beterbiev, Dmitry Bivol, and Jai Opetaia, would he be the fighter he is today, still unbeaten or just another one of the many contenders? It makes a difference when a fighter like Benavidez is fighting smaller, older fighters.
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