David Benavidez continues to use talk of steroids as a selling point for his fight against WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1.
It's a weird way to promote the fight and get fans interested, but Benavidez doesn't seem to have much to say during his interviews. Also, it is He's still making excuses For his poor performance in his debut 175 match against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June. He seems very weak.
PPV title fight
Next month, Benavidez will have the interim WBC 175-pound title on the line against Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) in his PBC on Prime Video PPV headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You've never heard my name associated with steroids,” David Benavidez told Xicana Boxing about David Morrell, speaking about his unfounded suspicions that he was dirty before their fight on February 1.
“The guy who fought him said they tested him, but they didn't test David Morrell. Even after the fight there was no drug testing. That's weird because there are always drug tests right after a fight. I want to tell people, if I have something to hide, why would I ask for more tests?” Drugs?
“We had nothing to hide and that's why we try to advocate clean boxing. We test as much as possible to make sure no funny acts happen.
“I will definitely punish him,” Benavidez said of Morell. “As for when it will be over, I'm not thinking about that. I'm thinking that I'll go in and do my game plan. The difference between my last fight (Olexandr Gvozdic) and his (Radivoje Kalajidzic) fight. I went there with two injured hands.
Excuses or reality?
“I had a torn tendon here, a broken knuckle, and I got cut when I had 10 stitches three weeks before the fight. So, I was already going through a lot of adversity,” Benavidez said. “Face it.”
“I think because of that, it shows that I'm a different caliber of fighter. A lot of people if they had one hand injured they would have called off the fight. I had two injured hands. I didn't call off the fight because it was a big deal.”
“Tank and I were fighting on the same card at the PPV. So, imagine if I had pulled out of the fight, I would have let my fans down. I care about my fans more than anything else,” Benavidez said.
What the 'Mexican Monster' didn't say was that he looked worse against Gvozdyk than Morel did in his one-sided win over Kalajdzic. Morell repeatedly hurt his opponent in the head in that fight, and his body got stronger as the fight went on. In contrast, Benavidez never hurt Gvozdyk and felt tired after six rounds. He got beaten down the stretch.
There was no sign of injury to Benavidez in his last fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15. He was throwing punches as hard as he could with both hands and didn't seem to be injured. Where Benavidez looked bad was how tired he was in the second half, taking too many hard shots from the 37-year-old Gvozdik, and hurting his body.
The fatigue has nothing to do with injured hands and everything to do with Benavidez not handling the extra weight well.
Benavidez made excuses for his poor performance in his 175-year-old debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, blaming a hand injury and a recent cut. It would have been better if he let his performance speak for itself instead of making excuses afterward.
