David Benavidez revealed today on Instagram that his fight against WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell is a done deal. WBC interim 175-lb champion Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says the “date & location of the fight will likely be announced later.
This move by Benavidez could blow up in his face since the Cuban Morrell is a much larger puncher, younger, and has superior technical skills. The one thing Morrell is missing is Benavidez’s high punch output and experience. Besides that, Morrell is more suited to fighting at 175 than him. Benavidez remains to be punching like a 168-pounder but with the scale of a light-weight heavyweight.
Benavidez says he had quite a lot of options, but he desired to fight the “best” possible opponent, and that was the unbeaten Cuban Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs). The winner of the fight will likely be in line to challenge the winner of Saturday’s undisputed championship between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Again, it’s a dangerous match-up for Benavidez, 27, because he’s already the WBC mandatory for Beterbiev’s 175-lb championship. Nonetheless, Benavidez needs a win over Morrell to create interest in difficult Beterbiev or Bivol. Neither of those two fighters has mentioned Benavidez, and one reason for that’s his lackluster performance in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June fifteenth.
Benavidez’s stock dropped badly after that fight because he barely won. The judges who worked the fight in Las Vegas gave Benavidez a large decision, but it surely looked almost even at the top. Within the second half of the fight, Gvozdyk got the higher of a weak and tired-looking Benavidez.
“There have been quite a lot of names on the table, but I wanted to present my fans the most effective fight possible. I reached out to David Morrell and his team to make this occur, and we got the contract done. This fight is de facto going to be a banger. Two of the most effective within the division and two titles on the road. Date & Location to be announced shortly.” said David Benavidez on Instagram today, revealing that he’ll be fighting WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell next.
Morrell defeated Radivoje Kalajdzic by a 12-round unanimous decision in his debut at 175 on August third in Los Angeles. That wasn’t an awesome performance from Morrell because he did not put Kalajdzic away despite hurting him multiple times in the competition. Still, as bad as Morrell looked in that fight, he fought a lot better than Benavidez did in his debut at 175 against Gvozdyk.
Last Updated on 10/08/2024
