WBC ‘ordinary’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell has confirmed on social media that he is in talks for a clash against WBC interim champion David Benavidez.
If the two undefeated 175-pound rookies, Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), agree to a deal, the clash could take place in December. This would put the winner in the slot to fight for the Undisputed Championship in 2025 against the winner of the October 12th match between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitri Bivol.
Morrell, 26, is the younger, more powerful and technically gifted fighter than Benavidez, but he lacks the experience he possesses. If the Cuban Morrell adjusts his game to improve his low punch output, Benavidez will likely lose this fight by knockout. The difference in power between Morrell and Benavidez is huge. I guess Benavidez didn’t eat his Wheaties growing up.
Although Morrell only has 11 fights as a pro, he has a lot of experience as an amateur in Cuba, which puts him ahead of Benavidez. He’s fought much better fighters in the amateurs than the opposition Benavidez has fought in the pros, which is mostly older guys like Demetrius Andrade and Anthony Dirrell.
Morrell is a much better puncher than him and has a style more suited to the 175-lb division. The 27-year-old Benavidez is a fish out of water at light heavyweight and no longer the fearsome puncher he was at 168, where he had a size advantage over his smaller prey.
If Benavidez loses to Morrell, it will cement in fans’ minds that he was always just a weight bully from day one. He will be seen as another example of a young fighter gaming the system by fighting in a weight class below their size.
Benavidez has been a pro for longer, and he has beaten Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Demetrius Andrade, Caleb Plant, David Lemieux and Anthony Dirrell.
Benavidez’s high volume offense will potentially give Morrell problems as he throws a lot of machine gun style punches and overwhelms his opponents with shots. In Benavidez’s debut at 175 last June against Gvozdyk, he defeated him with his volume.
Gvozdyk was the bigger puncher and landed the cleaner punches in each round, but the high output of Benavidez was enough to get the win.
Morrell hits a lot harder than Benavidez, but he could have issues with his volume if he doesn’t improve that part of his game by the time they fight. This is the thing that Morrell lacked in his recent fight against
Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd on the undercard of Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Morrell hurt former Artur Beterbiev knockout victim Kalajdzic several times in their 12-round fight but was unable to put him away as he focused on throwing single punches instead of landing a barrage of shots in the way Benavidez would have done.
If Morrell had more experience and adjusted his game, he would have easily knocked out Kalajdzic because he was in that fight early and often.
The shots Morrell had on him seemed harder than the blows that knockout artist Beterbiev had hit him five years earlier in their 2019 clash. The difference was that Beterbiev didn’t back down and stop when he had Kalajdzic in trouble. as Morrell did.
A win for Morrell in this fight would likely put a big smile on Canelo Alvarez’s face as he has been relentlessly chased by Benavidez over the past few years. Benavidez has been pushing like crazy, trying to get a fight against him, and at times seems fixated on landing that big payday.
What would be really funny is if Morrell was the one who ended up getting the fight against Canelo rather than Benavidez. Now, that would be hilarious, and it would suggest that karma is at work. Morrell didn’t pursue Canelo like Benavidez did.
