David Morrell says he will make it “look easy” by defeating David Benavidez in two weeks from today on February 1, in a 12-round light heavyweight main event bout.
WBA light heavyweight champion “Regular” Morell (11-0, 9 KOs) views Benavidez as just a simple “fat” pressure fighter who walks forward, throws punches, but there is no “power” in his punches. He says he knows he's stronger than Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO), which goes without saying.
Benavidez's lack of power
The “Mexican monster” has no power. He is a huge boxer who thrived during the first 11 years of his career while being a big fish in a small pond at 168 years old.
Like many young fighters, Benavidez could have been destined to fight in a division well below his frame size. At the beginning of his career, we saw the same thing with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Now that Benavidez is 175, his advantage is gone, his lack of punching power is a bigger handicap, and he no longer has the size to rely on. He was now fighting a big man just like him, Morel, but with superior skills and talent, a true knockout artist. It's not looking good for Benavidez.
Muriel: He made it “look easy.”
“Benavidez isn't easy, but I'll make it look easy. They're two different things,” Morell said. The gloves are off Episode 2. “Every time you come to the gym, you work, work, work. It's better to cry here than in the ring during the fight.
“That's the problem with this fight. Me and him too, we're both guys that like pressure,” Morell said of the constant pressure Benavidez put on his last opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his 175-year-old debut on June 15 in Las Vegas. Both men like to advance and apply pressure. Who is more powerful? I know it's me.
“Everyone says in his last fight he didn't have the ability to knock out some people. He has nothing. That's my real weight, 175,” Morell said. Now, I feel comfortable with that weight.
In terms of frame, Benavidez is a light heavyweight and has been that way his entire career, but his strength is more like a middleweight (160 pounds), and he takes a lot more hits than he did when he was fighting at 168 years old. In Benavidez's debut at 175 against former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he took a worthy penalty in that contest.
Life will be very different for Benavidez at 175 years old. He will be fighting killers like Morell and facing quality competition for the first time in his long professional career. As a 12-year-old pro, Benavidez is a prospect, making his debut but not young physically.
Betrayal of the body
Benavidez's body has seen the wear and tear of a fighter who has been in the game for over a decade. All the sparring wars had exhausted him more. We're seeing the effects now, with Benavidez collapsing due to injuries in his last fight.
This is a wear and tear from a long career rearing its ugly head. It's like an old car with 300,000 miles on the odometer. Yes, I have polished the car, but it is still an old car engine and transmission wise. Such is the case with Benavidez. Lots of miles on it.
“I really think I'm seeing a legend. He reminds me a lot of someone like Evander Holyfield, someone like Pernell Whittaker,” coach Ronnie Shields said of Murrell. “The reason he reminds me of those guys is the way he works.
“I give Benavidez credit for stepping in with him. He didn't have to. It just shows you have fighters that want to fight better. So, now he's getting a chance,” Shields said.
Finally escalation
You have to give Benavidez credit for finally stepping up in his 12th year as a pro to take the fight against Morel after calling him out for two solid years. Benavidez has had a very long career, and it's surprising that it took him so long to start facing elite-level fighters instead of the older, toothless, smaller guys he built his entire 29-0 record on.
There is a formula in this era of boxing where fighters get creative Plastic records By fighting the scrubs and then showing off themselves to try and get a big cash payday. Is Benavidez one of them?
He fought the same type of guy as Edgar Berlanga, and it's hard not to put “The Mexican Monster” in the same category. As the saying goes, “You are what you eat.” This works well in the professional game Manufactured fighters Which created unbeaten records built 100% on tomato cans.
Benavidez has fought exclusively lower level opposition and has been a pro for nearly 15 years. How do you not fight quality opposition, especially when there is such a huge size advantage over everyone else?
“What I see in Morell is a lot of flaws that I can take advantage of,” Benavidez said. “He says he's a better fighter than me because he's from Cuba and trained with Cubans, but that doesn't mean anything. I grew up sparring monsters.
Both fighters have faced plenty of good opposition during their careers, but Benavidez shouldn't see this as some sort of honor or war medal to pin on his chest. All fighters do that. Benavidez even cited this as evidence of insecurity. The flaws Benavidez sees in Morell are in his own game.
that it Projection His weaknesses on Morel and his failure to acknowledge that he is more vulnerable now than he was when he was sapping his strength fighting younger and older fighters at 168 years old to manipulate the system. Benavidez is starting to break down physically now due to his long career in the game.
