Will Benavidez’s chin hold Morrell?

Trainer Kenny Ellis believes David Benavidez will “overwhelm” David Morrell with volume and break him down in the later rounds. Ellis believes Benavidez will become more formidable as the rounds go on.

Interim WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and WBA ‘Regular’ Champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) meet in 15 days on PBC on Prime Video PPV on 1 February at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ellis predicts Benavidez won’t take as long to figure out Morrell as Caleb Plant because he’s a better boxer. Plant looked too small in the ring compared to the much bigger, lighter and undersized Benavidez and lacked the power to back him up.

The power of Morrell

“As long as Morrell’s belt didn’t touch Benavidez. Those belts are extremely heavy and can cause an extreme cut if they hit you right, and that would have put the whole damn fight on hold,” trainer Kenny Ellis told MillCity Boxingtalking about David Morrell throwing his WBA “regular” lightweight belt at David Benavidez after being pushed by him during the bout at the media training in Miami on December 17th.

“In this fight, David Morrell has that one-punch knockout power where he can catch and he can catch Benavidez. I just think ‘The Mexican Monster’ is going to overwhelm him with everything. He’s going to break him because the Mexican Monster is getting bigger and bigger strong as the rounds go by.

“He’s got a big punch himself, but I don’t see Morrell knocking him out because he’s not going to have that space to ride it. He’s not going to take that break between punches to ride it, because once he starts the Mexican monster. et it’s going to make you feel uncomfortable. It’s not going to let you set anything up,” Ellis said.

Benavidez pushed Morrell in the media workout, so he threw the belt at him. It wasn’t like Morrell was throwing the belt away for no reason. He did it because Benavidez pushed him hard when he refused to shake his hand.

Morrell can box, but he will be forced to go to war with Benavidez because he will chase him around the ring. This could work in Morrell’s favor because he likes to move and then stop to throw hard punches at his approaching opponents. He catches them as they go. If he nails Benavidez with a hard punch, he could knock him out.

“It’s a possibility,” Ellis said when asked if Morrell could hit Benavidez so hard that his punch volume isn’t as high as usual because he’ll be afraid of getting hit by the Cuban. “Anything can happen, but I’m playing the ‘Mexican monster.'”

It’s doubtful that Benavidez will change his usual approach of actively burying his opponents if Morrell hits him hard. If you focus on throwing at the head of ‘The Mexican Monster’, this will not work because he has excellent resistance to punches. However, I had never seen Benavidez get hit hard by a fighter with elite power.

Oleksandr Gvozdyk had great power, but he didn’t throw enough punches. He was mostly pushing his shots, trying not to get tired and focusing on boxing. This style allowed Benavidez to build up a huge lead in eight rounds. It was too late when Gvozdyk finally entered the championship rounds and needed a knockout. This is the only real fight Benavidez has fought, other than David Lemieux, who was old and in the mountains when they fought.

“I like Morrell, though. I think (Caleb) Plant is a better boxer than Morrell. I don’t think it’s going to take that long for Benavidez to figure him out and back him up and do what he does. At the same time, Morrell has that power in one fell swoop that can turn things around and slow things down. But I’m playing with ‘The Mexican Monster,’ Ellis said.

Caleb Plant tried to fight Benavidez on the inside, and took a lot of punishment in the second half of the fight. Caleb did well at the start and got through to fifth. Morrell won’t fight Benavidez on the inside, but if he does, he showed in his fight against Hot Rod that he has formidable power on the inside.