Former coach Teddy Atlas says he noted some tactics that David Benavidez got away with the use of David Morrell who may not have been allowed with other referees who worked their fight last Saturday night.
Atlas noticed these two dubious benavidez’s tactics:
- Punch behind the ear
- Pull Morrell’s guard with his left hand and hit.
Fighters can beat and hit the guard, but they are not supposed to pull it off and hit it. Banavidez does the latter. He held one of Morrell’s arms as he marked him with the other.
The referee should have observed those tactics and warned or penalized benavidez. This is called Holding & Hitting, a no-no in the sport.
Banavidez obviously studied video to come up with a strategy to handle Morrell’s high guard but you don’t like to see the old -fashioned guard Tactics used. Morrell couldn’t pull back his arm to protect his head, because the left side of Benavidez held it to prevent him from lifting it.
Bumps behind the head
To be behind the head is considered illegal and is warned and penalized by their referee. Atlas calls it ‘hit behind the ear’, but it looked more like the back of the head, which Banavidez used against Morrell.
Rabbitpons are supposed to lead warnings, but referees often see it over or not see it behind. They focus more on stopping low blows, which are interesting as it is much more dangerous to hit the head.
There were cases in the Benavidez-Morrell battle that looked like Banavidez’s textbook conquests, but nothing was said. It was strange. Would the outcome have been different if referee Banavidez had prevented from using these tactics? Probably not, but we will never know it.
“He (Benavidez) used his left hand to pull off the guard of Morrell and then hit him with the right hand as he did. I don’t know if it is even allowed? It is up to the referee to say he can’t do it, ”the former coach Teddy Atlas on his Youtube Channel, in which he discussed the illegal move David Benavidez used during his battle with David Morrell to land shots when the Cuban fighter erected his supervision.
“I’m not sure if every referee allows you to come over and pull the glove off the guys. He did it a few times effectively, and then beat him with a right hand after pulling off his glove. The referee did not stop benavidez, and more power for him.
“Benavidez pointed behind his ear. He throws the loop right hand behind his ear, ”says Atlas about pushing behind Morrell’s head Banavidez landed and got away without getting hot or penalized. “There’s more than one way to hit a man with a right hand.
