David Benavidez cannot afford to look past WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell for their 12-round headliner on February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Jose Benavidez Sr says son could move up to cruiserweight to challenge WBA and WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez if they can’t get an immediate title shot against the winner of the Feb. 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitri Bivol. There is a good chance that Beterbiev-Bivol will fight a trilogy at the end of 2025.
Target Zurdo at Cruiserweight
“For some reason, if this fight with the winner of Beterbiev and Bivol doesn’t happen or whatever, we will definitely go to cruiserweight to fight Zurdo Ramirez,” Jose Benavidez Sr. told Fight Hub TV.
We don’t know how serious Jose Sr. is about Benavidez moving up to cruiserweight if he can’t get the Beterbiev-Bivol 2 winner, but it’s a bad idea to consider that so soon. It’s pretty clear that after years of being shunned by Canelo Alvarez, Benavidez has grown impatient and is going to take the best possible fights without worrying about risk. You have to respect that.
If Benavidez moves up and defeats Zurdo Ramirez, he could potentially capture the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles and then face IBF champion Jai Opetaia in a fight the Saudis might be interested in in Riyadh.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) can’t afford to look past Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) because this is a fight he could lose. Two, if Benavidez were to move up to cruiserweight, it would be difficult to return to 175 to eventually fight the Beterbiev-Bivol winner.
Look past Morrell
“At 175, these two super contenders, Bivol and Beterbiev, might even have a trilogy. So, you also look in there on the outside. I understand that. It’s not fair. I understand where he’s coming from,” said Paulie Malignaggi Probox TV about David Benavidez finding himself waiting for big fights after not getting the one he wanted at 168.
“I say now is the time to think about David Morrell. He is no ghost, and David Morrell is in the same situation. Let us not forget. Canelo wanted nothing from David Morrell either. If Morrell beats Benavidez at 175, it’s the same thing for Morrell. He will also wait for Beterbiev and Bivol.”
Benavidez and his father, Jose Sr., seem convinced that Morrell is certain to win something, based on his performance against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd. Morrell fought in the worst way possible, throwing single punches and making it easy for Radivoje to fire back counters. Morrell put his guard up and allowed him to punch down throughout the fight, not attacking like he needed to make this an easy match.
Interestingly, Morrell didn’t learn from seeing Artur Beterbiev how he handled Kalajdzic by throwing non-stop punches and continuing to attack on the inside. Morrell did none of that and looked lost.
“I think both of these guys are in the exact same situation, and that’s why it’s no coincidence that they end up fighting each other,” Malignaggi said.
Regardless of the outcome of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch on February 22, these two will likely fight a trilogy, leaving the winner of the Benavidez-Morrell fight to sit and wait.
Assuming Benavidez is serious about moving up to cruiserweight, he could bid farewell to his chances of winning against one of them when he returns to 175. Benavidez would be better off staying at 175 and the WBA title against one of defending the top contenders, such as Joshua Buatsi, Willy Hutchinson or Anthony Yarde.
Moving up to cruiserweight would make it too difficult for Benavidez to get back down to 175 because he would have to lose weight.
