Benavidez’s game plan revealed: Walk Morrell down and test his heart

David Benavidez says he will try to knock down WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell and “hurt him in every round” in their main event in 40 days on February 1st on PBC on Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas.

Step off Morrell

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) thinks he can “hurt” the Cuban Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs), and he wants to see if he has “heart” by putting pressure on him. It could be a mistake for the ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez to try to knock Morrell off in this fight, as he is arguably the biggest puncher in the 175-lb division. He can walk into something and get knocked out.

For most of the 28-year-old Benavidez’s career, he competed in a division below his size, dropping down to compete at 168 instead of where he should be at 175. As such, fans labeled him a ‘weight bully’. ‘ and it’s hard to argue against that when you see him rehydrated during his fights. He looked like a cruiserweight.

Morrell is about the same size as Benavidez, but with more power. He doesn’t have a Fury-esque stomach like him because he keeps his weight down between fights and doesn’t indulge in treats.

Test Morrell’s chin

“I definitely think I can hurt him. I’m going to do my game plan to the best of my ability to try to hurt him as much as possible,” David Benavidez said. Sean Zitteland talks about what his focus is for his clash against WBA ‘ordinary’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1.

“If the knockout comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. My game plan is going to be on him all night and literally try to hurt him every round. For him who gives up, I don’t know. That is the question. I want to see if David Morrell really has that heart and if he has that dog in him.

“I’m going to try to hurt him every round, so we’ll see what happens. For this fight I feel very strong. Everything feels good now. I am injury free. I practiced very well. I’ve been training for a long time, and I’m just ready for this,” Benavidez said.

In Benavidez’s debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, his punches had no effect on him in their June 15 showdown. He looked like an average volume puncher, and he ate a lot of hard shots from Gvozdyk in that fight. Recently, Benavidez has blamed his poor performance on a slew of different injuries, making himself sound like the walking wounded for that fight.

David’s punches seemed to be thrown with the same force as when he fought at 168. The only difference was that he was fighting a guy the same size, and it had no effect. Benavidez’s injuries could be a sign that he is physically winding down from a long career in the sport. He has been fighting for over 10 years and is approaching 30.

Fighters are usually done at that point in their careers, unless they are genetically special. For Benavidez to suffer, multiple injuries indicate that he reaches the end like ordinary fighters and not one of the special injuries.

Benavidez’s apologies

“I’m ready to excel in my career and get the biggest challenges out there. I don’t want to be a hypocrite,” Benavidez said of the perception that he was whining about Canelo Alvarez not fighting him, yet he has eluded a fight against Morrell for two years.

Benavidez was a hypocrite because he didn’t want to fight Morrell and did the same thing Canelo was to him. His excuse of having bigger money fights available to him is the same excuse Canelo used for not fighting him. The reality is that Morrell was too dangerous, and Benavidez didn’t want to lose.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t give him (Morrell) the opportunity. It was that Caleb (Plant) was a bigger fight than him. ‘Boo Boo’ (Demetrius Andrade) fights as he. Then he got up to 175, when I came up he came right behind me. So, it was perfect. He got his belt (WBA ‘ordinary’), and I got my belt (WBC interim light heavyweight). That’s why I say, now is the perfect time to make this fight happen,” Benavidez said.

Benavidez doesn’t say he’s taking other less risky fights than this instead of facing Morrell. Benavidez has been called out by the Cuban talent for over two years, and he’s taken on easier fights by fighting these guys:

– David Lemieux
– Kyron Davis
– Ronald Ellis