Many fans are beginning to believe that WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez made a mistake by choosing to fight WBA 'regular' champion David Morrell at this early stage of his career before getting the money fight he was looking for.
Morrell has the power, speed and technical skills to knock Benavidez out and send him into the mud, where he may never return. The Cuban talent is the fighter many believe is the heir to the crown at 175, and Benavidez has picked the wrong guy to fight his way to a huge, life-changing payday.
Beterbiev Payday
If David Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) loses this fight to Morrell, he can say goodbye to $10 million + payout can get a fight against undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in 2025. That mega-money fight would go to Morrell, who would have the last laugh. Benavidez will have to get back on top, and there's no guarantee he can.
Next time, he would have to defeat a young contender at the highest level to win the interim title at 175. It wouldn't be an easy situation that he had this time, where Benavidez was fighting a 37-year-old Oleksandr Gvozdyk for the WBC interim belt to put himself in pole position for an undisputed championship fight against the winner of Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivolo on the 2nd.
The World Boxing Council received a lot of criticism for sanctioning the fight between Benavidez and Gvozdyk for their interim title at 175. This was Benavidez's first fight in the light heavyweight division, and he was fighting a man who had only recently come out of a four-year retirement.
In all fairness, Benavidez should have worked his way into a position to fight for the interim WBC 175lb title, and his opponent should have been one of the top contenders, like Joshua Buatsi.
Yesterday's brawl at media training, where Morrell came close to hitting Benavidez with his WBA belt, is attracting attention. This was a sign of what's in store for him when he meets Morrell and gets knocked out in their fight on February 1st, live on PBC at Main video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
A 50-50 fight
This is by far the best fighter Benavidez has fought in his 11-year career, and the only one where he faces someone with a 50-50 ratio. So far, Benavidez has provided plenty of good in terms of opponents with safe wins where he has had no worries about losing.
He had things tilted in his favor from day one, fighting in a weight class below his gigantic lightweight frame and fighting a weak, middling opponent.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) should not have entered this risky fight against the Cuban talent Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs), who is better than him in all segments. The 'Mexican Monster' would probably still have been chosen to fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitri Bivola 2 rematch without this risky fight against Morrell.
The feats that led to Benavidez's decision to take the plunge came from his victories over smaller, older, hapless fighters at 168. His super middleweight victories