LAS VEGAS -- If David Morrell Jr. had his way, he'd have David "The Monster" Benavidez in the rear view mirror at this point. Not long after Morrell turned pro in 2019 following a fabulous amateur career, Morrell called out Benavidez. As is often the case in professional boxing, things moved slowly, and nearly six years after that initial call-out, Morrell will finally get his wish.
The two classy light heavyweights will meet in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions Card Saturday at T-Mobile Arena streaming on PPV.com that is the start of an unofficial tournament in February for supremacy at 175 pounds. On Feb. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, undisputed and unbeaten light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev defends his belt in a rematch against Dmitry Bivol.
The likelihood is high that the winners of the two fights could meet next. Benavidez holds the interim WBC title and Morrell has the “regular” WBA championship. The belts are really just sanctioning body baubles since Beterbiev won them in the ring and is defending them versus the No. 1 contender. Regardless, any boxing expert understands both Morrell and Benavidez are elite, titles or not.
Morrell and Benavidez haven't seen eye-to-eye since the bout was made, and nearly came to blows in Miami at a media workout in December.
Morrell has long believed he's better than Benavidez and he's now only days away from getting the chance to prove it to the world.
“Benavidez is considered one of the most dangerous fighters in boxing, so when I beat him, everyone will see what I’m capable of,” Morrell said. “People call him ‘The Mexican Monster,’ but I’m not scared of monsters! I hunt them down! He’s never faced someone like me, and come fight night, he’s going to realize that I’m faster, stronger and smarter than anyone he’s ever stepped in the ring with.”
That's saying something, considering Benavidez has already defeated former super middleweight champion Caleb Plant.
Morrell, who is 15th in the KevinIole.com Sweet 16 pound-for-pound rankings, has been superb in 10 of his 11 pro outings. His only less than stellar effort was his last, a wide unanimous decision win on Aug. 3 in Los Angeles over Radivoje Kalajdzic. Morrell won 117-111 twice and 118-110 in a less-than-exciting fight that still showed how talented he is and what he's capable of doing.
Kalajdzic entered the bout 29-1 but was clearly uncomfortable mixing it up with the hard-hitting Morrell. Ronnie Shields, Morrell's highly regarded veteran trainer, absolved his fighter of the blame even if he concedes the fight was not fan-friendly.
"I hear you," Shields said when it was noted the fight was a disappointment. "But that takes us to the situation where you know that it takes two guys who want to fight to make a good fight. David was prepared and wanted to fight, but [Kalajdzic] didn't want to. We're using him now as a sparring partner and he fights better in the gym than he did in the fight.
"I understand [complaints about the type of fight it was], but when the other guy doesn't want to fight, it makes it hard."
He should have no such problems against Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), who is 13th in our pound-for-pound list. Benavidez is a quality offensive fighter who is somewhat of a slow starter but who tends to fight going downhill when he's warmed up and in the groove.
He's a tough guy to contain when he's firing on all cylinders, and he showed great resiliency in his wins over Plant and Demetrius Andrade by picking up the pace as the fight moved on.
Shields and Morrell have spent a lot of time working on areas they've identified where Benavidez is vulnerable. Benavidez has a tendency to throw wide shots occasionally and it's something Morrell and Shields have worked on regularly.
"All them things he does, we're going to be ready to capitalize on, believe me," Shields said. "If my guy sticks to the plan, and he does what we've worked on, I think he stops [Benavidez]. I really do."
A win over Benavidez would be significant no matter how he scored it, but if Morrell can finish him it's going to be a career-defining statement type of win.
Morrell didn't need any extra motivation because of the stakes in the fight, and knowing what could come next. That said, he said he found it given how Benavidez has trash talked him in the 2+ months since the fight was signed.
"He’s been running his mouth, calling me out and disrespecting my name,” Morrell said. “That’s fine with me, because words won’t save him when we’re face-to-face in the ring. All this trash talk just fuels me. He’s going to regret every word when I make him eat his pride punch-by-punch.”
Jacob De Leon/Team Morrell
David Morrell prepares for his Saturday bout with David Benavidez.