David Morrell says interim WBC light heavyweight champion David Benavidez will not be able to fight him on February 1 because he won’t let him.

(Image credit: Jacob De Leon/Team Morel)

Benavidez’s adventurous style

Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) said he was going to neutralize Benavidez’s offense by hitting him hard with his counters, which allowed him to open things up as cautiously as usual. Morrell warned that if Benavidez chose to fight in his normal, reckless manner, it would be a mistake he would regret for the rest of his life.

Benavidez-Morrell will headline the PBC Prime Video PPV show at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in 26 days. The 26-year-old Morel will defend his WBA “regular” light heavyweight title against the 28-year-old “Mexican Monster” Benavidez.

It will be interesting to see how much punishment Benavidez can take in this fight before going down. If he doesn’t change his hyper-aggressive fighting style in this fight, he’s definitely going to get knocked out by Morel because this guy is one of the biggest fighters in the 175-pound division. He has punching power and if he fights like a wild man like he usually does, he can knock out Benavidez.

“It’s all part of the show. I don’t know if Benavidez has tried some twisted psychological warfare on other people in the past. I’m sharp-minded and focused on February 1st,” David Morrell said. Sean Zittle. “I don’t play any mind games.

“Putting your money where your mouth is. It’s one thing to say it, but the other thing is to get in the ring and actually do it,” Morrell said after learning Benavidez said he would fight every Said while pressuring him non-stop during the round.

“Let’s see if he has the ability to do everything he says he wants to do. It’s going to be a completely different fight than the fights he’s had in the past. He’s not going to be able to be as offensive and aggressive as he was before, Because it’s not going to be that type of fight,” Morrell said.

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Benavidez only knows one way to fight: pressure his opponent from the inside. Although he is 6-foot-2, he has no perimeter game. He’s 100% an inside fighter and one-dimensional, so he has no choice but to pressure. If the fight was fought at a distance, Morel would cook him.

The difference in power could knock Benavidez down, as he’s just a big puncher and can’t generate any explosive power with his punches. This was the result of weakness in his upper body. He doesn’t have the power of Morel or Artur Beterbiev. On the inside, Morel is stronger and has the ability to knock down his opponents.

His performance against Radivoje Karadzic in the third round last August was terrifying. Karadzic swarmed Morell, hoping to beat him inside. Subsequently, Morell hit consecutive headshots with fatal power, which made Karadzic dizzy.

Benavidez doesn’t have any power in the paint, and he could be in trouble when he tries to get up close with Morel. Once again, Benavidez had no choice but to fight inside because for some reason he couldn’t land longer punches. This may be because he has some physical problems, or he may have had a bad experience in the past. No matter what, he couldn’t fight outside.

“I’m not going to be the guy standing in the corner waiting to attack,” Morel said. “I’m going to make my own thing happen, so I have to adjust. It’s not going to be just a scrimmage for him, he’s going to be able to pressure me and neutralize me like he’s forced other opponents in the past.”

Benavidez has pinned opponents smaller than him to the ropes in the past when he competed at 168 pounds. He is a light heavyweight competing for weight and size advantage in the super middleweight division.

When he finally moved up to 175 last summer against former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he couldn’t control him in the paint like he was at 168 against smaller Opponents do that. That’s why he looks so mediocre and no better than any of the fringe contenders. distribute. He doesn’t look like a top-five fighter at light heavyweight.

Morel’s counterattack strategy

“I can tell you 100 percent, I can fight back, fight back, whatever I need to,” Morell said. “He can be as aggressive as he wants, but he better not make mistakes because at this level, for an opponent like me, if he makes one mistake or multiple mistakes, he’s going to pay dearly.” Come pay,” Morel said.

Benavidez was hit multiple times by Caleb Plant, hurt twice by Anthony Dirrell, pinned frequently by Demetrius Andrade, and was beaten by Ronald Garrison Knockout by Friel. His aggressive punches and decision to fight at close range set himself up for counterattacks. While this style worked well for him, it also resulted in him taking a lot of hits.

Ultimately, Morel’s punching power may be too much for Benavidez, and we’ll likely see a knockout in the sixth round. Benavidez will fight like a wild man and get caught by Morel.