Benavidez: “Morrell tried to belt me!”

David Benavidez believes David Morrell was trying to hurt him out of his fight when he threw his heavy WBA regular heavyweight belt at him after he pushed him during their December 17 bout in Miami. Benavidez seems paranoid about the injury scenario he formulated.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) became angry when Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) refused to shake his hand. So, to deal with his shame and anger, he showed it to Morrell, who retaliated by throwing him the WBA belt. The belt narrowly missed hitting Benavidez in the head. He interpreted Morrell’s move as him trying to get out of the fight by hurting him.

You could look at it another way. Benavidez was the one who tried to get out of the fight by shoving Morrell, hoping he would punch him in the face in retaliation. It was Benavidez who started it with the push. What did he expect Morrell to do?

Was Morrell scared?

“I really want to beat the crap out of Morrell, and that’s exactly what I intend to do,” David Benavidez told Fighthypestill complaining that David Morrell wouldn’t shake his hand during his media training.

“For me, I already know that he is 100% afraid of me because he is already looking for ways out. Who throws belts in someone’s face? That’s a heavy belt, bro,” Benavidez said of Morrell throwing the WBA world title belt at him during their bout after he was shoved hard without warning.

“For me, throwing that belt in your face, I know in my mind I’m going to hit you and the fight is going to be canceled because you’re going to get cut. That’s exactly what he did. He also aimed for my head. It didn’t try to get lost,” said Benavidez.

There would have been no problem if Benavidez had controlled his violent instincts when Morrell wouldn’t shake his hand. Is he going through life pushing everyone around when they don’t want to shake hands?

“From the first press conference when we went face-to-face, I felt the fear in him,” Benavidez said of Morrell. “I’ve been doing that for a long time, and the same with this one. I said, ‘Be careful what you ask for, because I might be there to give it to you.’

“That makes for a better fight. I did all that. I pushed him. I did the press conference, and now a lot more people are interested in this fight. They should be because this is going to be a good fight. David Morrell is a good fighter .I’m a great fighter.

Will Morrell commit?

“We’re going to war, and if he really means what he says, he’s going to stand there and go toe-to-toe with me. I don’t think he’s going to. I’m 100 percent ready to go in there and do it. I’m going to hurt this one guy as much as he can,” Benavidez said.

It may not be in Benavidez’s favor to stand up to a big puncher like Morrell because he hits a lot harder and will take advantage of all the shots he usually throws.

Benavidez’s volume punches worked for him at 168 against smaller, bigger and weaker fighters he had faced. But at 175 years old he will have to reinvent himself if he doesn’t want his career to implode, starting with the Morrell fight.