David Benavidez says his experience will be too much for the WBA’s ‘ordinary’ light heavyweight champion, David Morrell, and he expects to knock him out in the later rounds in their main event on February 1.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) believes he has the edge against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) because of the superior opposition he has faced in many “50-50 fights” during his 11-year professional career. He doesn’t mention who he fought during his career in fights that were considered equal money, but that’s what he claims.
Morrell has a slight advantage in youth, strength, technical skills and mobility over Benavidez. He also has less wear and tear. Benavidez gets hit a lot because he is a volume puncher who gets in front of his opponents and overwhelms them with shots.
He got away with that style because he melted 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 struggling, and he’ll have to change his style to avoid getting knocked out.
Benavidez vs. Morrell will star on PBC Prime Video PPV on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I want to prove that I am the best in the world, and the only one there besides Bivol and Beterbiev is David Morrell. It was the best fight I could see. This is not the easiest battle. It’s probably the hardest besides Beterbiev and Bivol,” said David Benavidez Tobin.
“He had some words for me and told me to run away from him. I had to test his temperature and let him know that I was going to be here all night. “I’m not going to run away from anybody, and by the time this fight is over, he’s going to know who’s the best David,” Benavidez said of Morrell.
“Canelo kind of blocked my chance at greatness. I think now everyone is about protecting their O. For me, if you want to get the money, you have to go through the hardest battles. You have to show people what you are made of. That’s what I’m doing with this fight.”
Canelo did the same thing Benavidez did with Morrell. He did not indulge Benavidez. If he was fighting the best opposition to build his fan base, Canelo would be fighting him. The guys who fight Canelo are the ones with fans, who bring something to the table. We saw Benavidez fail to sell when he fought Demetrius Andrade on PPV on a loaded card, and the event drew poor numbers.
“Every fight I’ve taken has 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,” says 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 with his clash against Morrell so far, and he’s only taking them because he almost 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 fought against people who were not really good. That’s why he finishes them early,” Benavidez said of Morrell. “I fought people who were experienced, veterans, and I finished them.”
Morrell’s recent opponent, Radivoje Kalajdzic, is better than anyone Benavidez has fought. Gvozdyk was a good fighter before he retired in 2019, but he was out of action for four years before making a comeback in 2023. It wasn’t the prime version of Gvozdyk that Benavidez fought.
Gvozdyk beat three second-tier fighters before facing Benavidez on May 15 and went the 12-round distance with him in what appeared to be a close fight. It was a poor performance by Benavidez, who didn’t look nearly as good as Artur Beterbiev 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 am 100% focused. I know this fight isn’t going to be easy, but it’s probably going to end in the later rounds,” Benavidez said of his matchup against Morrell.
