David Morrell Jr. leaves Canelo drama in his dust

LOS ANGELES – Instead of letting someone else dictate terms, David Morrell Jr. opted to handle his business the way he treats his opposition in the ring.

Taking control and authoring his own story, Cuba’s Morrell left the stagnation of the super middleweight division owned by Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and is moving to light heavyweight Saturday night on the undercard of the loaded BMO Stadium card in Los Angeles, meeting Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-2, 21 KOs).

With eight of his knockouts arriving before the end of the fourth round, the 26-year-old Morrell (10-0, 9 KOs) infuses richer depth into a now-stacked 175-pound division that counts unbeaten titleholders Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol and unbeaten WBC interim titlist David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs).

On Thursday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “Deep Waters,” analysts Chris Algieri and Paulie Malignaggi addressed Morrell’s situation.

It’s akin to that of Benavidez, in that four-division champion Alvarez has opted to avoid those two unbeatens over the past two years-plus and instead taken out the likes of Jaime Munguia, Jermell Charlo, John Ryder and an aged Gennady Golovkin since his 2022 loss to Bivol.

Alvarez (61-2-2, 39 KOs) now has a date with his World Boxing Association mandatory contender Edgar Berlanga, whose credentials and talent pale to Benavidez and Morrell.

Morrell called Alvarez-Berlanga a “bullshit fight” this week.

“I like that Morrell and Benavidez are carving their own lane. We’ll probably see those two fight before we see either of them fight Canelo,” Algieri said.

“They’re doing their own thing, not waiting and wasting their prime years,” Malignaggi said.

The way former welterweight titleholder Malignaggi sees it, Morrell and Benavidez “blow through Canelo like a train running over an SUV. There’s Benavidez and Morrell and everybody else, and Canelo is in the ‘everybody else.’”

While the International Boxing Federation has stripped Alvarez for not honoring his mandatory, Malignaggi scorched the other sanctioning bodies for having “no backbone,” and noted that Mexican legend Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. didn’t tie up the belts or deny his successors.

“It’s not going to affect your legacy if you do it right,” Malignaggi said.

However the story plays out in the 168-pound division is no longer Morrell’s worry.

In Kalajdzic, 33, he meets a 29-2 fighter with 21 knockouts who stepped into the ring with Beterbiev in 2019 and was knocked out in the fifth round.

“He’s not an easy guy to look good against,” Algieri said. “Does Morrell need to look fantastic? Yes. But that’s what he does. I wouldn’t be surprised if he looks spectacular. He’s going to be a superstar. He has all the qualities and he’s been phenomenal. So he didn’t get the fight at 168, but 175 is now one of the best weight classes in the world.”

While Malignaggi lamented these Alvarez fights not happening, Algieri noted it happens in boxing, citing the case of unbeaten IBF welterweight titleholder Jaron “Boots” Ennis, who was stiff-armed by recent champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford before pressing ahead to win a belt.

“You’ve gotta feel somewhat disrespected if Canelo chooses to fight you. He’s choosing you over the guys he’s avoided and doesn’t think much of you,” Malignaggi said. “You’ve got to be lying in bed thinking, ‘This guy thinks I suck.’”