David Morrell has a battle in the planning stages against the WBO-Tussentage light heavyweight champion Callum Smith for the first quarter of 2026. For the Cuban Morrell (12-1, 9 COs) this is a continuation of the Murderers’ Row of Groot Punchers with which he has been facing since May 2024.
Morrell’s Murderers’ Row
Morrell, 27, has a lot of courage to take tough fights on Turki Alalshikh’s cards against fighters who do not want to fight many other fighters.
After his 12-round unanimous loss of decision to David Banavidez earlier this year on February 1, he must tackle the collision against Callum Smith (31-2, 22 COs) to place himself in a place to challenge WBO champion Dmitri Bivolol or to elevate if he chose to evacuate, as he did to fight.
Morrell’s 3-match Gauntlet
- Imam Khataev: W-SD 10
- David benavidez: l-ud 12
- Radivoje Kalajdzic: W-Aud 12
“I think you see that the fight in Saudi Arabia is fighting in early 2026,” Eddie Hearn said Ring magazine About a fight between WBO -Tussentage light heavyweight champion Callum Smith and David Morrell.
Learn from benavidez
To beat Smith, Morrell will have to be much more consistent with his offense than he showed in his last three fights. His habit of fighting in Spurts caused him to make fights that would have been facilitated if he were consistent against Khataev and Kalajdzic. Smith hits Morrell too hard to take breaks and kicks off as he did against Benavidez and Khataev.
Smith, 35, jumped back nicely and won his last two battles against Carlos Galvan and Joshua Buatsi after being in the seventh round by former IBF, WBC and WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Bingerbiev on January 13, 2023.
Smith had to go through a very difficult fight against Buatsi and won a 12-round decision to win the WBO-Tuss-entitled title of 175 pounds earlier this year on February 22 in Riyadh.
Last updated on 10/06/2025
