Diego Pacheco believes WBA light heavyweight champion David Murrell will be David Benavidez's “toughest opponent” when they meet on February 1 in the main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Pacheco, a super middleweight contender who trains with Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), predicts he will wear down Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) and come out on top. He compares Morell to Caleb, which is an odd comparison, and sees Benavidez starting slow and then progressing.
Threat of physical gunfire
If Benavidez gets hit by Morel as much as Plante, he will be in trouble in this fight. Morrell's strength is very different from Plant's, and he will target his weak midsection to bring him down.
Like all fighters, Benavidez has a weakness, which is taking body shots. Morell will likely focus on his chunky clothes Late Gut Elvis To score a blocked body shot. This is Benavidez's kryptonite – and it delivers powerful blows to his breadbasket.
“David Murrell is a guy you can't underestimate. He's there for a reason, and he's one of the best Cubans at the moment,” Diego Pacheco said. Shawn ZettelHe is talking about David Morrell, who will face interim WBC heavyweight champion David Benavidez on February 1.
“I feel like David (Benavidez) is a monster. He doesn't let anyone take it from him. When he goes out there, he's going to kill. Of course, I think Morell will be his toughest opponent yet, but I still see David coming out on top. He's (Morrell) He has a good jab, he's a really good fighter, he maintains a really good distance.
“I feel like he's going to make it tough for David in the first rounds. But as we saw with Caleb Plant, he was doing a good job of boxing in the first few rounds when he fought David. But David has a chip on his shoulder as he comes forward. Even in the wins, he's still getting punched .
Using Caleb Plant as a reason why Benavidez defeated Morell doesn't make much sense. Plante is a smaller, older fighter with no power, a very different fighter than the 27-year-old Morel. Plant was never a boxer and was knocked out by Canelo Alvarez. His style is different from Morel's.
“I feel like when you're boxing a guy like David, and he's still moving forward no matter what you do, it makes it difficult to maintain the same game plan and stick to it. When you have a monster like him, throwing hard punches, throwing punches in combinations,” Pacheco said. “It will be difficult.”
Benavidez's habit of stepping forward led to him taking a lot of head shots against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their fight last year on June 15. If Gvozdik had targeted Benavidez's body, rather than the cement block of his head, he could have scored a penalty.
When he finally went to Benavidez's body on the 12th, he hurt. Benavidez's vulnerable midsection and the way he leans back in a Fury-esque style leaves his body wide open. Pachecho praised Benavidez's ability to avoid being hit in the head, saying he tended.
This is true, but it leaves his midsection unprotected, which is the only area where he is vulnerable. He may not be able to handle Morell's punches to the body or head as he hits harder than anyone he has faced before and is excellent at counter-punching.
“His defense is crazy. He stands up straight. He's really good at backing away from punches. Every camp, he's getting better. He's learning,” Pacheco said.
His former opponents
Benavidez's defense isn't great. If you watched his last two fights against Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Demetrius Andrade, he was walking forward RoboCop style, blocking shots with his head, outworking those two older fighters. Gvozdyk is 37 years old and Andrade is 36 years old.
Neither man is anywhere near what they once were a decade ago. It would be the same if Benavidez was on the wrong side of 30, facing a younger fighter. He won't do a good job.
