Morrell’s superior skill set: too much for Benavidez?

Zab Judah and Anthony Dirrell feel that interim WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez has too much experience for David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and will defeat him in their 12-round fight on February 1 at T-Mobile Arena. in las vegas

12 years of damage: the toll that has been taken

The wear and tear of a long and grueling 12-year career is starting to show on ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez.

Although he is young at 28, physically he looks much older, like a person in his mid-to-late 30s, due to the punishment he has received. We’re seeing it now, with him coming into fights with multiple injuries, stamina issues and slowed reflexes.

In Benavidez’s last fight, his head looked like a doorstop from the shots Oleksandr Gvozdyk hit him with on June 15th.

He wasn’t blocking anything and Gvozdyk hit him at will. Had the Ukrainian fighter not recently retired for four years, he likely would have knocked out Benavidez. This was hard to watch. Granted, it was his first fight at 175, but it was obvious that David had hit the ceiling. It was a combination of age and struggle where it should have always been.

Weight Bully

People criticize Benavidez for fighting out of his natural weight class, competing at 168 instead of 175. Even though he’s been young enough to dehydrate in weight, he probably wouldn’t have been able to if there had been a strict rehydration of 10 lbs. limits to prevent it from exploding. In other words, Benavidez has been a weight bully, and Judah and Dirrell don’t mention it.

Judah believes Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will knock Morrell out early, using his bulk striking. He piles on his opponents and unloads non-stop blows. That’s what he did with Dirrell and tried to do with his latest opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk. In that case it didn’t work.

“I think the fight will go four rounds. David Benavidez by knockout,” said Zab Judah MillCity Boxingpicking Benavidez to stop David Morrell on February 1st. “David makes it to the first round.

“I think it’s going to last longer,” Anthony Dirrell said. “David (Benavidez) doesn’t have the one punch (power). It’s the accumulation. David has some pop, but I don’t see the one-punch knockout.

“David Morrell can last a little while. Being from Cuba, he can also hit. Everyone knows that Cubans are made to hit. If I have to lean one way, it’s 100% David Benavidez because of his resume. We haven’t seen Morrell tested. We have seen David tested on several occasions.

“We haven’t seen Morrell tested in a big old fight, of this magnitude. This fight, everyone is going to want to see this fight. It depends on how Morrell fights,” Dirrell said when asked if Morrell can go the 12-round distance with Benavidez.

Dirrell has first-hand experience fighting Benavidez on September 28, 2019 and was stopped in the ninth round by a cut. He stunned him twice with left hooks but couldn’t finish him. Benavidez was much bigger than Dirrell and looked like a lightweight

His first fighters

We haven’t seen Benavidez tested in a big fight either. It’s not just Morrell. Dirrell was 30 years old when he fought Benavidez, and well, his prime. Also, he was much smaller, going up against the lightweight and heavy-sized Mexican monster.

Morrell has fought better guys in the amateur ranks than Benavidez has as a professional. It’s not even close. Morrell has the advantage of experience against quality opposition. The best fighters that Benavidez fought were mostly bigger and taller fighters like these guys:

– Demetrius Andrade: 36
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: 37
– David Lemieux: 35 years old
– Roamer Alexis Angulo: 40

Caleb Plant wasn’t big when he fought Benavidez in 2023, but Canelo Alvarez had already knocked him out in 2021. He had no power. This is the only youngest world class fighter to beat Benavidez. The rest have been old.

“David, it is the accumulation that will come to him (Morrell). It has a bit of octopus. Every punch, you’ll feel it. I think Morrell will fight,” Dirrell said.

“Do you think David Morrell can knock out David Benavidez?” said Judah.

“Benavidez can get hit, though,” Dirrell said. “We have never seen Benavidez injured. I’ve never seen it. He was knocked out, but I think it was a quick loss (against Ronald Gavril on Sept. 8, 2017, in his first fight. He was a little too aggressive, but that’s Benavidez.”

If Morrell is forced into a war on the inside, he has a chance to knock Benavidez out because he’s a lot stronger and bigger than the guys he’s been fighting at 168. Gvozdyk couldn’t fight on the inside. He mostly lit up Benavidez from the outside after a gas in the second half of the fight. Again, Dirrell hurt Benavidez and he was much smaller.

Morrell’s youth advantage

“I think he calmed down a little bit. He’s a good counter. So, blocking and coming back with his own counter. I think it’s going to be a good fight. I think it’s going to be a chess match at first. Then it’s going to warm up to the half of the rounds,” said Dirrell.

“I see it going four rounds,” Judah said.

“No, I don’t see Morrell getting on with him like that,” said Dirrell. “I see him moving, doing his shots, but being in motion. I think he’ll mix it up sometimes because of the blood, but I don’t see any confusion like that.”

Morrell, 26, is two years younger than Benavidez, but he’s younger and has that cool factor about him. He hasn’t hit in the professional ranks like Benavidez in 12 years, and it shows. Therefore, Judah and Dirrell see the experience factor as a positive rather than a major negative for Mexican monster Benavidez. When it’s early in a fighter’s career, experience is important, but not when a guy has been in the game since 2013. Then it’s a negative.

“So you’re saying Morrell has to take it to deeper water for him to win?” said Judah.

“You have to, but Benavidez also gets stronger as it goes on. We have to see what Morrell’s state is going into the fight,” Dirrell said. “I’m seeing David in Vegas right now. If you don’t go to Vegas a few weeks early, it’s over.