Many fans are beginning to believe that interim WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez made a mistake by choosing to fight WBA ‘regular’ champion David Morrell at this early stage of his career before getting the money fight he’s been after searched for.
Morrell has the power, speed and technical skills to knock Benavidez out and send him into the mud, where he may never return. The Cuban talent is a fighter many believe is the heir to the crown at 175, and Benavidez picked the wrong guy to worm him into a huge, life-changing payday.
The Beterbiev Payday
If David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) loses this fight against Morrell, he can say goodbye to the $10 million+ payday he could fight undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in 2025. That mega-money fight would go to Morrell, who would get the last laugh. Benavidez will have to work his way back up, and there’s no guarantee he can.
Next time, he will have to beat a young top-level contender to capture an interim title at 175. It wouldn’t be the easy situation he had this time, where Benavidez was fighting 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim belt to put himself in pole position to win the undisputed championship against the Beterbiev vs. Fighting Dmitri Bivol 2 winner.
The World Boxing Council received a lot of criticism for sanctioning a fight between Benavidez and Gvozdyk for their interim title at 175. It was Benavidez’s first fight at light heavyweight, and he was fighting a man who had only recently come out of a four-year retirement has come.
In fairness, Benavidez should have worked himself into position to fight for the WBC interim 175-pound title, and his opponent should have been one of the top contenders, such as Joshua Buatsi.
Yesterday’s bout at the media workout, where Morrell came close to beating Benavidez with his WBA belt, is an attention grabber. It was a sign of what’s in store for him when he comes into Morrell and gets knocked out in their fight on February 1, live on PBC Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
A 50-50 fight
This is by far the best fighter Benavidez has fought in his 11-year career, and it’s the only one where he faces someone with a 50-50 shot at beating him. Until now, Benavidez has catered to gimmes in terms of opponents with certain wins where he had no worries about losing.
He had things slanted in his favor from day one, fighting in a weight class below his gigantic light, weight frame and against weak, middle-of-the-road opposition.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) didn’t need to take this risky fight against Cuban talent Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs), who is better than him in every department. ‘The Mexican Monster’ would likely still be selected to face the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Fight Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch without taking this risky fight against Morrell.
The bravado that led to Benavidez’s decision to take this gamble was created by his victories over smaller, older, unlucky fighters at 168. His victories at super middleweight
