David Benavidez says his experience will be too much for WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell, and he expects to knock him out in the later rounds in their headliner on February 1st.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) believes he’s got the edge against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) due to the superior opposition have faced during his 11-year professional career in many “50-50 fights.” He doesn’t mention who he’s fought during his career in fights that were considered even-money, but that is what he claims.
Morrell has a slight advantage in youth, power, technical skills, and mobility over Benavidez. He also has less wear and tear. Benavidez gets hit a lot because he’s a volume puncher who posts up in front of his opponents and overwhelms them with shots.
He’d gotten away with that style because he melted down to compete at 168 against smaller and older fighters. Now that Benavidez is fighting where he should have been all along, at 175, he’s getting hit hard, and he will have to change his style to avoid getting knocked out.
Benavidez vs. Morrell will be headlining on PBC on Prime Video PPV on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I want to prove that I’m the best in the world, and the only one there besides Bivol and Beterbiev is David Morrell. That was the best fight I could see. It’s not the easiest fight. It’s probably the toughest besides Beterbiev and Bivol,” said David Benavidez to Tobin.
“He had a couple of words for me, saying I was running from him. I had to test his temperature and let him know that I’m going to be here all night. I’m not going to be running from nobody, and by the time this fight is finished, he’s going to know who the best David is,” said Benavidez about Morrell.
“Canelo was kind of blocking my chance to achieve greatness. I think now everybody is about protecting their O. For me, if you want to get the money right, you have to go through the hardest fights. You have to show people what you’re made of. That’s what I’m doing with this fight.”
Canelo was doing the same thing Benavidez was with Morrell. He wasn’t indulging Benavidez. If he’d been fighting the best opposition to build up his fan base, Canelo would have fought him. The guys that Canelo fights are ones with fans, who bring something to the table. We’ve seen how Benavidez couldn’t sell when he fought on PPV against Demetrius Andrade on a loaded card, and the event did poor numbers.
“Every fight I’ve taken, they’ve been hard, competitive fights where it looks like they’re 50-50. But I go in and do my thing and show why I’m the best in the world,” said Benavidez.
Benavidez’s fights have NOT been 50-50 matches during his 11-year career. He’s always been the favorite in his fights, and that’s the problem. He’s taken risks until now with his clash against Morrell, and he’s only taking that because he pretty much has to.
Benavidez’s Best Wins:
– Demetrius Andrade: 35
– Caleb Plant
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: 37
– Anthony Dirrell: 38
– Ronald Gavril
“That’s the difference between me and him. He’s fought against people that weren’t really good. That’s why he’s finishing them early,” said Benavidez about Morrell. “I’ve fought against people who were experienced, veterans, and I finished them late.”
Morrell’s recent opponent, Radivoje Kalajdzic, is better than anyone Benavidez has fought against. Gvozdyk was a good fighter before retiring in 2019, but he was out of the game for four years before making a comeback in 2023. This wasn’t the prime version of Gvozdyk that Benavidez fought.
Gvozdyk had beaten three second-tier fighters before facing Benavidez on May 15th and went the 12-round distance with him in a fight that appeared to be a draw. That was a poor performance by Benavidez, who looked nowhere near as good as Artur Beterbiev did in his fight against Gvozdyk on October 18, 2019.
“It’s going to be my experience against him going in and trying to score a quick knockout. I’m 100% focused. I know this fight is not going to be easy, but it’s probably going to end in the later rounds,” said Benavidez about his match against Morrell.
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