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David Benavidez says his experience will be too much for ‘regular’ WBA champion David Morrell, and he hopes to knock him out in the next bout for their title on February 1.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) believes he has the edge against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) due to the strong opposition from his 11-year professional career in “50-50 fights”. He didn’t name who fought what appeared to be money fights, but that’s what he’s saying.
Morrell has a slight advantage in youth, strength, technique, and mobility over Benavidez. They also have few weaknesses. Benavidez hits hard because he’s a volume shooter who gets ahead of his opponents and overwhelms them with shots.
He gave up that style because he melted down to compete at 168 against younger and older fighters. Now Benavidez is fighting where he should have been all along, at 175, he’s hitting hard, and he needs to change his form to keep from falling.
Benavidez vs. Morrell will be the head of the PBC on Prime Video PPV on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I want to prove that I’m the best in the world, and the only one besides Bivol and Beterbiev is David Morrell. That was the best fight I’ve seen. It’s not an easy fight. It’s probably the hardest except for Beterbiev and Bivol,” said David Benavidez Tobin.
“He had a few words to me, he says I’m running away from him. I had to test his temperature and let him know that I’ll be here all night. I’m not going to rush anyone, and when this fight is over, he’ll know who the best David is,” said Benavidez about Morrell.
“Canelo was like he was blocking my chance to achieve greatness. I think now everyone is close to defending O. For me, if you want to get money properly, you have to go through the hardest fights. You have to show people what you’re made of. That’s what I’m doing with this fight.”
Canelo was doing what Benavidez had with Morrell. He was not pleasing Benavidez. If he was fighting the best opponents to get his fans, Canelo would fight him. The guys that Canelo fights are the ones that have fans, that bring something to the table. We saw how Benavidez couldn’t sell when he fought on PPV with Demetrius Andrade on a full card, and the event did poor numbers.
“Every fight I’ve fought, it’s been hard, competitive fights where it seems like 50-50. But I go in and do my thing and show why I’m the best in the world,” Benavidez said.
Benavidez’s fights have not been a 50-50 match in his 11-year career. He’s always been popular in his fights, and that’s the problem. He’s been vulnerable so far with his feud with Morrell, and he’s only taking it because he has to.
Best of Benavidez:
– Demetrius Andrade: 35
– Caleb Plant
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: 37
– Anthony Dirrell: 38
—Ronald Gavril
“That’s the difference between me and him. He has fought people who were not very good. That’s why they finish them early,” said Benavidez about Morrell. “I’ve fought experienced, experienced people, and I finished them late.”
Morrell’s latest opponent, Radivoje Kalajdzic, is better than anyone Benavidez has fought. Gvozdyk was a good fighter before retiring in 2019, but was out of action for four years before returning in 2023. This was not Gvozdyk’s first fight with Benavidez.
Gvozdyk knocked out three second-tier fighters before facing Benavidez on May 15 and took him the distance of 12 rounds in what appeared to be a drawn-out fight. This was a poor performance for Benavidez, who did not look as good as Artur Beterbiev in his fight against Gvozdyk on October 18, 2019.
“It will be my experience to challenge him going in and try to score quickly. I am 100% determined. I know this fight will not be easy, but maybe it will end later,” said Benavidez about his match with Morrell.
