Benavidez’s Cruiserweight Future If Morrell Wins?

Coach Jose Benavidez Sr. predicts that his son, ‘The Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez, will “destroy” David Morrell in their light heavyweight contest in 11 days on February 1st on PBC on Prime Video PPV in Las Vegas.

This fight will show if Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is just a “False‘Monster,’ lives up to the hype he got fighting smaller opposition at 168, or if he’s real. Morrell says he has seen fighters like Benavidez and considers him 100% “fake”.

Now that Benavidez is fighting at 175 against a younger fighter his size but more power, he could be exposed by Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs).

Exit strategy already planned?

According to Team Morrell, Benavidez hovers between 215 and 220. So he has the size to reinvent himself at cruiserweight if he fails against the talented Cuban on February 1st.

If Benavidez loses, he may have to decide if he wants to move up to cruiserweight to try to save his career in that weight class. Staying at 175 would be a mistake for him, because if he can’t beat Morrell, he certainly won’t be successful against Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol.

Jose Sr is already booking a exit strategyand discusses the possibility of Benavidez moving up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for his belts. He will have to wait his turn until IBF champion Jai Opetaia faces Zurdo in a three-belt unification. But either of those guys would be open to Benavidez fighting him off of a loss to Morrell.

Even if he gets knocked out by Morrell, they’ll be willing to fight him because he’ll still be popular, and he’ll probably have excuses to explain away his loss. He cited injuries to explain why he did poorly against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and fans believed him. He can do the same thing if he loses to Morrell, and people will pass him.

“We are 100% locked in at Morrell. He’s a tough fighter, a younger fighter. He is a two-time world champion and hungry. We don’t underestimate this guy,” Jose Benavidez Sr. said. said Sean Zittel over David Morrell, who faces David Benavidez on February 1st.

“We are 100% there. David (Benavidez) is 28 years old. In my mind I think David is going to destroy him (Morell). Let’s focus on that now. For sure, David has big dreams. He wants to fight the winner. Who doesn’t want to fight the winner of Bivol and Beterbiev? Maybe even a fight with Zurdo Ramirez at cruiserweight.

“Those fights are great. Big monsters in that division, and there are big opportunities at that weight. Zurdo Ramirez is going to fight the other guy (IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia) for the belt, and hopefully we get the opportunity to do that as well,” Benavidez Sr. said.