David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr. are on similar tracks. Both were at super middleweight, hoping for big opportunities, especially a fight with champion Canelo Alvarez. And both have since moved up to light heavyweight.
For Benavidez, that jump to 175 came in June, when he outpointed former lineal light heavyweight champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk in the co-feature bout on the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin pay-per-view.
For Morrell, his move up comes this Saturday, when he faces Radivoje Kalajdzic on the pay-per-view undercard of Israil Madrimov vs. Terence Crawford, which is available for purchase via Amazon Prime, DAZN, ESPN+ and PPV.com.
“He’s another guy that just sort of has abandoned 168 because the fight that everybody wants at 168 is just not available to him or David Benavidez,” said Tim Smith, the vice president of communications at Haymon Sports, speaking to Kurt Emhoff on the Boxing Esq. Podcast. Both Benavidez and Morrell have worked regularly with Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. “I know a lot of people are like, ‘He should fight David Benavidez.’ Well, at 175, that might end up happening. We’ll see. That would be a war. That would be an absolute war.”
Morrell had a pair of early nights in 2023, putting away Yamaguchi Falcao in one round and Sena Agbeko in two. The 26-year-old, who hails from Cuba and now calls Minneapolis home, is 10-0 (9 KOs).
Kalajdzic is a 32-year-old originally from Serbia and now living in St. Petersburg, Florida. He is 29-2 (21 KOs). One of those losses was highly controversial, a split decision against Marcus Browne back in 2016. The other defeat came via fifth-round TKO against Artur Beterbiev in 2019. Since then, Kalajdzic has won five straight, culminating in a 10th-round knockout of Sullivan Barrera this March.
The winner of this fight receives a secondary WBA belt and ostensibly will be in line to face the winner of Beterbiev’s match with Dmitriy Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight championship.
“I think [Morrell vs. Halajdzic] can be a good fight, but I think David Morrell is at a different level at this point,” Smith said. “Not a lot of people want to get in the ring with him. He’s got some really heavy hands. And he’s very skilled. He’s been working with [trainer] Ronnie Shields and I think that truly has helped him.”
Follow David Greisman on Twitter @FightingWords2. His book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
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