The talented former Cuban amateur star David Morrell did an excellent job last Saturday night, pushing David Benavidez to the brink of defeat but coming up short in their light heavyweight battle at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Although Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) was out-landed by Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) 224 to 165, his punches had a lot more power on them and did a lot of damage to the Mexican Monster’s face. He exposed Benavidez in this fight, showing that he was not what people had thought.
Benavidez Re-evaluated
At the end of the fight, Benavidez’s face looked beaten up, making him look like an older person in his 40s. Although the 27-year-old Morrell and Benavidez were only one year apart in age, they looked ten years apart. Benavidez’s career has taken a lot out of him.
Benavidez has repeatedly said in interviews that he won’t give Morrell a rematch and will wait for his title shot against the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 fight. That’s a smart move because Morrell would have an excellent chance of beating Benavidez in a second fight.
After this performance, Cuban talent could be avoided because of what he did to Benavidez. Few fighters at 175 will want to mix it with Morrell now that he showed that Benavidez is nothing special.
What’s Next for Morrell?
- Caleb Plant
- Anthony Yarde
- Willy Hutchinson
- Oleksandr Gvozdyk
‘Sweethands’ Plant would be an excellent option for Morrell, but it would likely require that he move down to 168 to make the fight happen. Plant probably wouldn’t want to go up to 175 to take on Morrell and get taken apart by his powerful shots.
The punches that Morrell landed on Benavidez to age his face would likely knockout Plant in one or two rounds. Plant is a good boxer, but he got tagged by Morrell eventually and be done for the night. The former IBF super middleweight champion Plant was hurt multiple times in his last fight by fringe contender Trevor McCumby and was lucky not to be knocked out in that match.
From Morrell’s Corner
“I thought he did great. Experience is what beat him tonight. David Morrell, people are going to be really looking at him now, saying, ‘Hey, let’s stay away from this guy. He’s only got 12 fights.’ He looked great against Benavidez. He fought a hell of a fight,” said Morrell’s trainer Ronnie Shields to YSM Sports Media following his fighter, David Morrell’s impressive performance against David Benavidez last Saturday night.
“Experience is what beat him, but he’ll be back. This really helps his career, it really did. The fans got to see what type of guy he really is. He comes to fight. That’s who he is. He’s going to gain a lot of fans in the sport of boxing,” said Shields about Morrell.
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