David Benavidez is counting on his professional experience to carry him to victory against undefeated David Morrell on February 1st in their 12-round fight on PBC on Prime Video PPV.
The ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez predicts that he will soon be the “Face of Boxing” and that he sees this fight as his “takeover”. He obviously has no shortage of self-belief going into the Morrell fight.
Benavidez’s confidence
David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says he can’t wait to add Morrell’s WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title to his collection. He currently holds the WBC interim 175-lb belt, a trinket title that guarantees him a title shot against champion Artur Beterbiev if he prevails against Morrell.
Benavidez-Morell headlines the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It’s a fight many boxing fans consider a 50-50, but not Benavidez. He sees it as a certain victory for him, but that’s the way he is.
If he were to fight Beterbiev, Jai Opetaia or even Daniel Dubois, he would probably be just as certain of victory. He’s one of those guys who has big egos shaped by years of campaigning at 168, and he’s yet to fight an A-level fighter in his career.
Morrell is the closest thing to being that kind of fighter. That’s what makes it interesting: Benavidez will have to show if he’s as good as he thinks he is. I feel like he isn’t because his brother, Jose Benavidez Jr., is the same way. He has lost every time he has faced A-level opposition, but he is always confident that he will win. This will be Benavidez’s first time, and he could also lose.
PBC PPV Undercard Fights
Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton
Yoenli Hernandez vs. Angel Ruiz Astorga
Isaac Cruz vs. Angel Fierro Barreda
Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr. vs. Jason Rosario
Mirco Cuello vs. Christian Olivo
Experience vs. Force
“I don’t see the amateur as any (advantage). This is not an amateur fight,” David Benavidez told the media when asked about the experience advantage that David Morrell has over him from his days as an amateur star in Cuba.
“This is a championship fight for 12 rounds. He may have an advantage for three rounds because of his amateur (experience), but other than that, three rounds mean nothing. I was in with the better fighters, and the bigger places and the bigger fights. This is my third PPV or fourth.
“So, I have experience on my side. I don’t think he’s ever been into anything like that, and I’m going to show why I’m on another level. He knew he bit off more than he could chew,” Benavidez said of Morrell.
Amateur experience matters when a fighter has the kind of success Morrell had in Cuba. As an amateur, he was 130-2, and that could affect this fight if he can handle Benavidez’s pressure. Morrell can’t move for 12 rounds.
He will have to stand his ground and fight Benavidez for him to win, because if he tries to move like he did in his August 3 debut at 175 against Radivoje Kalajdzic, he will lose a decision. Benavidez will have the advantage in punch output, but Morrell can take that away by knocking him out. That is what he will have to do.
Benavidez has a thick skull and looks like it’s nothing. He has a forehead like a drive-in movie theater. The punches that Oleksandr Gvozdyk threw at him with full force had no effect, and they were more powerful than the ones he made contact with. He took them. Morrell hits harder, though, and he won’t tire himself out with movement like Gvozdyk did. The 37-year-old looked tired and old in that fight with Benavidez last June.
“I know what I can do. Every high-caliber fighter says the same thing, but as soon as they get in the ring with me, they say, ‘David Benavidez is on another level.’ I’m really motivated. I’m excited to go in there and get that WBA belt. I don’t have any of those. So, I’m very excited to get one of those in my collection,” Benavidez said.
‘The Mexican Monster’ has yet to fight a “high caliber fighter” during his career. I don’t know that Morrell is a “high caliber” fighter either, but he fights at a higher level than the best guys that Benavidez has fought.
Morrell’s power and technical skills advantage make him a threat, especially with the way Benavidez focuses on loading up on everything he throws. He is reckless with the way he fights, and he will eventually get knocked out fighting like that. Will Morrell be the one to do it? We don’t know, but I wouldn’t be shocked.
So it is unclear who he is talking about. His best wins came against 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk, 36-year-old Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant. These are NOT “high caliber” fighters.
Andrade was a good fighter years ago when he was at 154, but he was too old and small to fight the light heavyweight-sized Benavidez at 168. David looked enormous while rehydrating Andrade and didn’t look like a super middleweight. There was no way Demetrius was going to beat Benavidez that much bigger with him. If things were equal and Andrade was young and the fight was held at 154 in 2012, he would have had a chance, but not at 168 against a much younger light heavyweight sized Benavidez.
Gvozdyk was retired for four years after being knocked out by Artur Beterbiev in 2019. He came back and beat a few tomato cans before being picked by Benanvidez’s management. This was not the first version of Oleksandr losing to Beterbiev and knocking out Adonis Stevenson.
Face of boxing?
“This is my takeover. When I see fighters in Vegas, I feel like I can take it over. I really entertain and give great fights. I want it for myself. I want to show the people that I am the best. When I go in there, everyone now sees the level. I’m just excited to make my dreams come true and become the face of boxing,” said Benavidez.
It will be difficult for Benavidez to become ‘The Face of Boxing’ without facing Morrell or the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. To beat Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch. The way Benavidez loads every punch, puts everything into it, he’s going to be in trouble against Morrell or Beterbiev if he gets that far.
The way Benavidez fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June will hurt him badly. Fortunately for him, Gvozdyk mostly pressed his punches and didn’t put maximum power on them. When he did start to load up on his shots in the second half, he eased Benavidez up with head shots.
In the last 30 seconds of the 12th, he hurt Benavidez with a right hand to the body. Morrell is much faster, younger and more powerful than Gvozdyk. He will hurt Benavidez. I don’t think the ‘Mexican Monster’ can change because that’s how he’s always fought, and he’s incapable of trying to box. When he’s on the outside, he loads up on wild hooks, and that will be a problem against Morrell. He will counter him, and we could see a one-punch knockout win for Morrell.
