Is Benavidez looking at Morrell? You’re Already Planning a Cruiserweight Move

Jose Benavidez Sr. says his son, David Benavidez, may move up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for his belts after David’s fight with WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1.

Benavidez Sr’s first choice for the ‘Mexican War’ Benavidez next after Morrell will face the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2. That’s the #1 pick. However, if that fight is not due to a possible trilogy, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will move up to cruiserweight to challenge Zurdo Ramirez for his two titles.

Looking for Morrell?

Benavidez, 27, you don’t seem to be fully engaged against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) because he and his father, Jose Sr., are already talking about fighting the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol 2 or moving up to cruiserweight to challenge Zurdo. Cuban Morrell may be the biggest puncher in the 175-lb division, with real one-punch power, and able to take advantage of Benavidez’s backhand fighting style.

Morrell is a very different type of fighter than the smaller, weaker, and older guys that Benavidez preyed on at 168. During their promo, Benavidez looked fat around the middle, with visible potbellylooking like fat Elvis towards the end of his career. What on earth did Benavidez eat to gain so much weight?

Benavidez looked aware of his talking stomach during face-offs, trying to hide it with his arm and appearing to defend that point during his fight with Morrell. It won’t be easy for Benavidez to cut the belly he has put in but that is his responsibility.

In contrast, Cuban Morrell already looked in a fighting mood, ready to poke holes in Benavidez to reveal him as a guy who was never as good as the naive fans thought.

In the ten years that Benavidez fought at super middleweight, he was always bigger than his opponents after rehydration, and used his large cruiserweight size to defeat them.

After moving up to 175 in his last fight on June 15 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Benavidez looked weak and tired, showing no energy, being tagged hard by the 37-year-old light heavyweight champion.

After the fight, Benavidez looked good he went through the gauntletlooking battered, tired, and relieved that the Nevada judges had given him a unanimous 12-round decision. Many fans felt it should have been a draw. That performance of Benavidez showed that he has not yet entered the light heavyweight division. You should have the strength to be among the elite-level fighters at 175, and if you lack, he is being walked. We can see that happen with Benavidez against Morrell.

The judges gave Benavidez the decision, but his problems in that fight will still be there. He can’t hit 175, and his weight abuse doesn’t work because his opponents are equal but hit harder.

Benavidez Sr. You want Ramirez

“Yes, that’s what we could do right away so that’s what we want,” said Jose Benavidez Sr. talking to Fight Hub TV about David Benavidez possibly moving up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez after the fight. Morrell fight.

“For some reason, if this fight with the winner of Beterbiev and Bivol doesn’t happen or whatever, we’ll go to cruiserweight to fight Zurdo Ramirez, and hopefully that will happen.”

If Benavidez loses to Morrell, Jose Sr. he’ll look a fool after that, given all his pre-planning about David’s next move. Depending on how badly Benavidez loses to Morrell, he may have to bite the bullet and find his way back to 168, in order to save his career.

Zurdo Ramirez defeated WBO cruiserweight champion Chris Billiam-Smith via a 12-round unanimous decision on November 16 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was one of the best performances of Ramirez’s 15-year Golden Boy-promoted career.

That fight showed that Ramirez is still improving, learning, and choosing new ways to win his fights. The score of Ramirez vs. Billiam-Smith was 116-112, 116-113 and 116-112.