David Benavidez is counting on his professional experience to carry him to victory over the undefeated David Morrell on February 1st in their 12-round fight at PBC on Prime Video PPV.
The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez predicts that he will be the “face of Boxing” soon and sees this fight as his “take”. He is clearly not lacking in self-belief that he will go to Morrell’s fight.
Benavidez’s confidence
David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says he can’t wait to add Morrell’s ‘regular’ WBA lightweight title to his collection. He currently holds the interim WBC 175-lb belt, a trinket title that guarantees him a shot at champion Artur Beterbiev if he wins against Morrell.
Benavidez-Morrell headlines the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This is a fight that many boxing fans see as 50-50, but not Benavidez. You see it as a sure win for him, but he is.
If he were to fight Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia, or even Daniel Dubois, he would probably be guaranteed victory. He’s one of those guys with a big personality built up over years of campaigning at 168, and he’s yet to fight an A-level fighter during his career.
Morrell is the closest thing to being that type of fighter. That’s what makes it interesting: Benavidez will need to prove he’s as good as he thinks he is. I feel that he is not because his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr., is the same way. He loses every time he faces an A-opposition, but he’s always dead-set on winning. This will be Benavidez’s first, and he could lose, too.
PBC PPV Undercard Fights
Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton
Yoenli Hernandez vs. Angel Ruiz Astorga
Isaac Cruz vs. Angel Fierro Barreda
Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr. vs. Jason Rosario
Mirco Cuello vs. Christian Olivo
Feeling vs. Power
“I don’t see him as a novice [advantage]. This is not a fight for amateurs,” David Benavidez told the media when asked about the experience David Morrell has over him since his rookie days in Cuba.
“This is a 12-round championship fight. He may have a three-round advantage because of his legend [experience]but other than that, three rounds mean nothing. I’ve had better fights, bigger places and bigger fights. This is my third or fourth PPV.
“So, I have experience on my side. I don’t think you’ve ever experienced anything like this, and I’m going to show you why I’m on another level. “He knew he bit off more than he could chew,” Benavidez said of Morrell.
Ateur’s experience is important when a fighter has the kind of success Morrell had in Cuba. As a rookie, he was 130-2, and that could have an impact on this fight if he can handle Benavidez’s pressure. Morrell can’t move for 12 rounds.
He will have to get up and fight Benavidez to win because if he tries to move like he did in his debut at 175 on August 3 against Radivoje Kalajdzic, he will lose the decision. Benavidez will have a chance to land a punch, but Morrell can take it away by taking him out. That is what he will have to do.
Benavidez has a thick skull and seems to shoot like nothing. He has a forehead like a movie-drive-in theater. Oleksandr Gvozdyk’s hard punches had no impact, and were more powerful than the ones he connected with. He took them. However, Morrell is a big hitter, and he won’t worry about movement the way Gvozdyk does. The 37-year-old looked tired and old in that fight with Benavidez last June.
“I know what I can do. All the top fighters say the same thing, but when he gets in the ring with me, they say, ‘David Benavidez is on a different level.’ I’m really inspired. I’m excited to go in there and get that WBA belt. I don’t have one of those. So, I’m very happy to have another team in my collection,” said Benavidez.
The ‘Mexican Monster’ has yet to fight a “high-profile battle” during its run. I don’t know that Morrell is a “high level” fighter, but he fights at a higher level than the best Benavidez has fought.
Morrell’s strength and technical skills make him a threat, especially with the way Benavidez focuses on landing everything he throws. He’s lax in the way he fights, he’ll end up getting blown out like that. Will Morrell be the one to do it? We don’t know, but I wouldn’t panic.
So, it is not clear who you are talking about. His best wins came against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk, 36-year-old Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant. Those are not “top class” fighters.
Andrade was a good fighter 154 years ago, but he was too old and too young to fight light heavyweight Benavidez at 168. David looked huge as he rehydrated Andrade and didn’t look like a super middleweight. There was no way Demetrius was going to hit Benavidez too hard. If things were equal and Andrade was younger and the fight was held at 154 back in 2012, he would have had a chance, but not at 168 against the much smaller light heavyweight Benavidez.
Gvozdyk had been retired for four years after being fired by Artur Beterbiev in 2019. He came back and hit a few cans of tomatoes before he was picked by Benanvidez’s management. This was not the first version of Oleksandr who had lost to Beterbiev and knocked out Adonis Stevenson.
Face Boxing?
“This is my take. Seeing the fighters in Vegas, I feel like I can take this. I’m really fun and give great fights. I want this for myself. I want to show people that I am the best. When I go in there, everyone sees the level now. I’m just happy to make my dreams come true and become the face of boxing,” said Benavidez.
It will be difficult for Benavidez to become the ‘Face of Boxing’ without defeating Morrell or the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2. The way Benavidez loads up on every punch, puts everything into it, he’ll be in trouble against Morrell or Beterbiev if he gets there.
The way Benavidez fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June will hurt him badly. Fortunately for him, Gvozdyk was pushing his punches and not putting too much power into them. When he started loading up his shots in the second round, he was lighting up Benavidez with his heads.
In the last 30 seconds of the 12th, he hurt Benavidez with a right hand to the body. Morrell is faster, smaller, and stronger than Gvozdyk. He will do damage to Benavidez. I don’t think the ‘Mexican Monster’ can change because that’s the way he always fights, and he can’t try boxing. When he’s on the outside, he loads wild hooks, and that’s going to be a problem against Morrell. He’s going to fight him, and we saw a one-shot win over Morrell.
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