Zab Judah and Anthony Dirrell each really feel that WBC interim mild heavyweight champion David Benavidez has an excessive amount of expertise for David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and can defeat him of their 12-round headliner struggle on February 1st on the T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas.
12 Years of Harm: The Toll It’s Taken
The wear and tear & tear of a protracted, grueling 12-year profession is beginning to present on the ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. We’re seeing the beginning of the breakdown.
Though he’s younger at 28, he bodily appears a lot older, like an individual in his mid-to-late 30s, because of the punishment he’s obtained. We’re seeing that now, with him getting into fights with a number of accidents, stamina issues, and slowed reflexes.
In Benavidez’s final struggle, his head resembled a doorstop with the pictures he was getting hit with by Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June fifteenth.
He wasn’t blocking something and getting hit at will by Gvozdyk. If the Ukrainian fighter hadn’t been lately retired for 4 years, he would have doubtless knocked Benavidez out. That was exhausting to observe. Granted, it was his first struggle at 175, but it surely was apparent that David had reached his ceiling. It was a mixture of age and preventing the place he ought to have been all alongside.
Weight Bully?
Individuals criticize Benavidez for preventing exterior of his pure weight class, competing at 168 reasonably than 175. Though he’s been younger sufficient to dehydrate down in weight, he doubtless wouldn’t have been in a position to do that if there had been strict 10-lb rehydration limits to stop him from blowing up. In different phrases, Benavidez has been a weight bully, and Judah and Dirrell fail to say that.
Judah thinks Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will knockout Morrell early, utilizing his quantity punching. He crowds his opponents and unloads nonstop punches. That’s what he did with Dirrell and tried to do along with his final opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk. It didn’t work in that case.
“I consider that struggle goes 4 rounds. David Benavidez by knockout,” stated Zab Judah to MillCity Boxing, selecting Benavidez to cease David Morrell on February 1st. “David is available in spherical one.
“I believe it’s going to go longer than that,” stated Anthony Dirrell. “David [Benavidez] doesn’t have the one punch [power]. It’s the buildup. David has some pop, however I don’t see the one-punch knockout.
“David Morrell can final somewhat bit. Being from Cuba, he can hit, too. Everybody is aware of Cubans are made to hit. If I’ve to lean a technique, it’s David Benavidez 100% due to his resume. We haven’t seen Morrell examined. We’ve seen David examined on a number of events.
“We haven’t seen Morrell examined in an enormous outdated struggle, a magnitude like this. This struggle, all people goes to need to see this struggle. It is dependent upon how Morrell goes to struggle,” stated Dirrell when requested if Morrell can go the 12-round distance with Benavidez.
Dirrell has first-hand expertise preventing Benavidez on September 28, 2019, and was stopped within the ninth spherical on a lower. He did stun him twice with left hooks however couldn’t end him. Benavidez was a lot larger than Dirrell and regarded like a light-heavyweight
Previous-Their-Prime Fighters
We haven’t seen Benavidez examined in an enormous struggle, both. It’s not simply Morrell. Dirrell was in his mid-30s when he fought Benavidez, and nicely, his prime. Additionally, he was loads smaller, going up towards the sunshine, heavyweight-sized Mexican Monster.
Morrell has fought higher guys within the beginner ranks than Benavidez has as a professional. It’s not even shut. Morrell has the expertise benefit towards high quality opposition. The most effective fighters Benavidez fought have been primarily older, over-the-hill fighters like these guys:
– Demetrius Andrade: 36
– Oleksandr Gvozdyk: 37
– David Lemieux: 35
– Roamer Alexis Angulo: 40
Caleb Plant wasn’t outdated when he fought Benavidez in 2023, however Canelo Alvarez had already knocked him out in 2021. He had no energy. That’s the one youthful world-class fighter that Benavidez has crushed. The remainder of them have been outdated.
“David, it’s the buildup that’s going to get to him [Morrell]. He’s bought some pop. Each punch, you’re going to really feel it. I believe Morrell goes to place up a struggle,” stated Dirrell.
“Do you assume David Morrell can knock out David Benavidez?” stated Judah.
“Benavidez can take a success, although,” stated Dirrell. “We’ve by no means actually seen Benavidez damage. I by no means seen it. He bought dropped, however I believe it was a flash knockdown [against Ronald Gavril on September 8, 2017, in their first fight. He was a little too aggressive, but that’s Benavidez.”
If Morrell is forced into a war on the inside, he’s got a chance to knock out Benavidez 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 he gassed out in the second half of the fight. Again, Dirrell had Benavidez hurt, and was a lot smaller.
Morrell’s Youthful Advantage
“I think he calmed down a little bit. He’s a good counter-puncher. So, blocking and coming back with his own counter. I think it’ll be a good fight. I think it’ll be a chess match at first. Then it’ll heat up in the middle of the rounds,” said Dirrell.
“I see it going four rounds,” said Judah.
“No, I don’t see Morrell banging it out with him like that,” said Dirrell. “I see him moving, getting his shots in, but be on the move. I think he’s going to mix it up at times because of the blood, but I don’t see a mix-up like that.”
Morrell, 26, is two years younger than Benavidez but is more youthful and has that freshness factor going for him. He hasn’t pounded for 12 years in the pro ranks like Benavidez, and that shows. So, Judah and Dirrell are looking at the experience factor as a positive rather than as a major negative for the 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 that Morrell has to take him into the deeper waters for him to win?” said Judah.
“You have to, but Benavidez gets stronger as it goes, too, though. We got to see what Morrell’s condition is going into the fight,” said Dirrell. “I see David in Vegas right now. If you don’t go to Vegas a few weeks before, it’s over.”
