A stocky looking David Benavidez trash-talked David Morrell while putting on a short video promo for their light heavyweight title fight on February 1st at the Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
During the face-off, Benavidez, 27, invaded Cuban Morrell’s personal space, walking up to him while speaking in fast Spanish and trying to intimidate him.
Even when they were separated, one could tell that Benavidez was upset, perhaps because Morrell had called him a “Coward,” questioning his courage during the last two years for dodging a fight against him.
Morrell: “If you were in Cuba, they would have taken your shoes.”
It might have been the comment Benavidez put off or the one about him being a “coward”. Any one of those could have been what set his kettle on, but Morrell has been annoyed over the past two years by being repeatedly outed by Benavidez because they should have already fought.
If they had, the winner of the fight would have seen their popularity skyrocket, putting pressure on Canelo Alvarez to fight them. Rather than fight Morrell, 26, Benavidez opted to pad his record with wins over these fighters:
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: 37
– Caleb Plant
– Demetrius Andrade: 35
– David Lemieux: 35
– Kyron Davis
Do you see a trend here with the opposition Benavidez has faced? Benavidez did record paddingwhat signals that his father, Jose Benavidez Sr, and his management maneuvered him into creating a false record to try and get the Canelo payday. It didn’t work. All that time wasted and Canelo wasn’t fooled.
The fight against Morrell is Benavidez’s first 50-50 fight during his 11-year professional career, and it will be interesting to see if he can pass this test without falling apart.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) has been carrying extra groceries around his midsection, and will need to cut weight before taking on WBA ‘regular’ 175-lb champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) in their matchup at PBC venture on Prime Video PPV.
