Ronnie Shields’ beautiful mind accompanies David Morrell to showdown with David Benavidez

LAS VEGAS – The project before Ronnie Shields is massive. Thankfully for the veteran trainer, so is his library of experience.

Shields, the 66 year old cornerman for Cuba’s unbeaten David Morrell, is charged with the unenviable assignment of crafting a fight plan to defeat the peaking and ferocious “Mexican Monster”, Phoenix’s David Benavidez.

Not only is Benavidez 29-0 (24 KOs) unbeaten, he hasn’t come close to losing. Four-division champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has repeatedly eschewed the opportunity to fight him.

But when Benavidez, 28, assessed the landscape of available opponents, he sought to defy his rival’s cautious approach by going after the most qualified foe he could find, selecting the 27-year-old southpaw Morrell 11-0 (9 KOs) for a pay-per-view main event (Prime Video; PPV.COM) on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

He’s got him now. And Shields.

Relying on that bank of 37 years of intel, Shields has dissected everything Benavidez has done in the ring while inspiring his game fighter who has so capably downloaded and prepared for this daunting assignment 

“Trainers win fights all the time,” Shields said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, so I challenge myself often to see if I can beat everybody. I have a passion to do this.

“I’m greatly confident about this fight because I know what [Morrell] can do and he knows what he can do. You know, in the gym, I have pure gym fighters, guys who look so good in there. Morrell is definitely not a gym fighter. He shows up when it’s time to fight, and that’s what you want.”

Shields has been here before, charged with solving a fighter who looks flawless, merciless and ruthless.

In 2002, Shields took the substantial underdog Vernon Forrest up to the high altitude of Big Bear Lake, California, to prepare for the then-unbeaten welterweight champion of the world, Shane Mosley, who was two years removed from defeating Oscar De La Hoya and standing as the most avoided fighter in boxing.

Absorbing Shields’ lessons, Forrest produced a masterclass, using his length and power to knock down Mosley twice in the second round and win a wide decision.

“Shane Mosley is supposed to be the best boxer,” the late Forrest said that night. “They call him the Michael Jordan of boxing. And I beat him.”

Morrell also carries that defiance in the face of stacked odds and the perception he won’t be able to endure the expected onslaught that Benavidez has brought upon quality fighters including the former middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, the former super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant and, most recently, the former light-heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

“They see my guy only has 11 fights and they know Benavidez has 16 more, and they figure Benavidez must be so much better,” Shields said.

“But if you reverse it and look at it like, ‘Why’s the kid with 11 fights fighting the kid with 27 fights?’, it’s because we know. He’s ready.

“Look at the guys [Morrell’s] fought. And he has an extensive amateur background of more than 100 amateur fights. The kid has never backed down from anyone. He’s a student of the game and ready to go.”

Morrell’s mindset is aligned with Shields while they embrace the role they confront with the perceptions that favor Benavidez.

Instead of withering, Morrell has stared right back at Benavidez, agitating the former super-middleweight champion in ways no other foe has – they had to be separated during an early photo shoot and then engaged in shoves at a media day.

“I’ve come in as an underdog so many times – it never bothers me,” Shields said.

The trainer stirs his fighter with motivational whispers.

“I tell him, ‘They’re underestimating you – everybody, the public, the fighter’,” he said. “Everybody is blind to what this kid has really done and that’s a great thing. I love the underdog role. We use it to our advantage.”

Morrell has called Benavidez a rigid, robotic fighter and that contrasts with Morrell’s fluid, creative, energetic style.

“We know Benavidez is not the fastest starter in the world,” Shields said. “He likes to come on and throw crazy punches. I’d like to think we can take advantage of every little detail. That’s what we’re going to do. We have prepared for everything he can bring to the table and we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Given Benavidez’s 83 per cent knockout rate, Morrell’s attention to defense is paramount.

“I tell you this – we’re prepared for almost anything and everything that can happen in there,” he said. “Of course, until we get in there, we don’t know. Either of us could throw one shot and it’s over.

“But when that bell rings, the focus starts. You have to prepare yourself for every little thing. And that’s what we’ve done.”

Shields, who has also cornered the likes of Evander Holyfield, the late Pernell Whitaker and Arturo Gatti, the former middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and the reigning middleweight champion Erislandy Lara, learned as a fighter that leaving no stone unturned is essential.

He had two title shots, a wide 1984 decision loss to the 140lbs champion Billy Costello, and a 1986 split-decision loss to Tsuyosha Hamada in Japan.

He united with Morrell for his fourth pro fight. 

“Since I’ve started training him, he has trusted me with everything I have told him to do,” Shields said. “I tell him this is what I see, and he sees the same thing. It’s not hard putting a game plan together, but the game plan has to come to fruition in training camp. And every day I see it. That’s the most important thing. Because he believes in it. And he has to believe in it in order for it to work.”

Morrell has knocked out or stopped every opponent he’s faced with Shields in his corner with the exception of his August 3 foe, Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic, a 6ft 3ins Serbian who kept his distance and lost by a sizeable margin on the scorecards.

Because “Hot Rod” is slightly taller than Morrell – like Benavidez – Shields summoned him to their training camp, equipped him in headgear and heavier gloves, and told him to attack Morrell as Benavidez will.

“If you had seen that ‘Hot Rod’ versus the LA ‘Hot Rod’, it was a night-and-day big difference,” Shields cracked.

While Shields is continually busy with fighters – he’ll take the junior-middleweight Vito Mielnicki Jnr to a card at Madison Square Garden on February 14 and Cuba’s WBA number-two-rated junior-middleweight Yoenis Tellez to a spot on the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard in Brooklyn on March 1, he has yet to gain admission into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Scripting a fight plan to upend another great would boost that candidacy.

As he’s considered Benavidez, Shields said he starts with a principle.

“The thing about it is, I’m a realist first,” he said. “We’re all humans. We all bleed like everyone else does. We all walk the same; all talk the same.

“What is different? Because he throws a lot of punches? No. There’s holes in there. You’ve got to find the holes. This is what a game plan is all about: finding the holes. Knowing we can get in.

“We’ve never seen Benavidez hurt. He’s never been hit solid by anyone. That’s the most important thing. Everybody else has been worried about what’s coming at them rather than focusing on what they have to throw at him. That’s what we focus on – what we’re going to do. Not what he’s doing.”

In studying Benavidez’s victory over Plant, Shields assessed Plant was too respectful of Benavidez’s power. 

“Caleb was in there taking punches, not giving enough back,” he said. “Then I [envision] my guy [Morrell] in there and I feel there’s a lot of things we can take back and take advantage of, with my guy as a southpaw. I saw Caleb didn’t go to the body, he was trying to survive more than win.

“We’re definitely here to win. You’re going to see a guy from the start, boxing the way he’s supposed to, and when it’s time to get down and dirty, you’re going to see us in the middle of the ring.”

The fight plan is also rooted in Morrell’s iron chin and his brilliance in understanding how to execute and confuse as a left-handed power puncher.

“The best example of that was Marvelous Marvin Hagler against Tommy Hearns because [Hagler] had the mentality to win,” Shields said. “That’s what you have to possess. If you don’t have that mentality, you can’t win.

“David Morrell was born with that. It’s not something you teach.”