Morrell’s Superior Skill Set: Too Much for Benavidez?

Zab Judah and Anthony Dirrell believe WBC interim welterweight champion David Benavidez has too much experience for David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and will defeat him in their 12-round main event on February 1st at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

12 years of damages: the toll that has been taken

The wear and tear of a long, grueling 12-year career is starting to show on ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. We are seeing the beginning of the breakdown.

Although he is young at 28 years old, the punishment he received makes him look much older physically, like someone in his mid to late 30s. We’re seeing it now, as he enters fights with multiple injuries, stamina issues and slowed reflexes.

In Benavidez’s last fight, his head resembled a cap with punches from Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.

He didn’t block anything and Gvozdyk hit him at will. If the Ukrainian fighter hadn’t recently retired for four years, he probably would have knocked out Benavidez. That was hard to watch. Granted, it was his first fight at 175, but it was obvious that David had reached his ceiling. It was a combination of age and struggle where he should have been all along.

Weight Bully?

People criticize Benavidez for fighting outside of his natural weight, competing at 168 rather than 175. Although he was young enough to dehydrate at the weight, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do so if there was a strict rehydration 10lb limit to prevent him to explode. In other words, Benavidez was a bully with weight, and Judah and Dirrell don’t mention that.

Judah thinks Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will knock Morrell out early, using his punching volume. He piles on his opponents and throws punches non-stop. That’s what he did with Dirrell and tried to do with his last opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk. In that case it failed.

“I believe the fight lasts four rounds. David Benavidez by knockout,” said Zab Judah MillCity boxingpicking Benavidez to stop David Morrell on February 1st. “David comes in the first round.

“I think it’s going to take longer than that,” Anthony Dirrell said. “David (Benavidez) doesn’t have the only punch (power). It is an accumulation. David has some punch, but I don’t see a one-punch knockout.

“David Morrell can last a little longer. Since he is from Cuba, he knows how to guess. Everyone knows that Cubans are made to hit. If I have to lean on one side, it’s 100% David Benavidez because of his resume. We haven’t seen Morrell tested. We have seen David tested on more than one occasion.

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

Dirrell has first-hand experience of fighting Benavidez on September 28, 2019, and was stopped in the ninth round due to a stoppage. He stunned him twice with a left hook, but was unable to finish him off. Benavidez was much bigger than Dirrell and looked like a light heavyweight

Past-Their-Prime Fighters

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

Morrell fought better guys in the amateur ranks than Benavidez did as a pro. It’s not even close. Morrell has the experience advantage over quality opposition. The best fighters Benavidez fought were mostly older, over the hill fighters like these guys:

– Demetrius Andrade: 36
– Oleksandar Gvozdik: 37
– David Lemieux: 35
– Wanderer Alexis Angulo: 40

Caleb Plant was not old when he fought Benavidez in 2023, but Canelo Alvarez had already knocked him out in 2021. He had no strength. That’s the only junior world-class fighter that Benavidez has beaten. The rest are old.

“David, it’s the reservoir that will get to him (Morrell). There is something pop. You will feel every blow. I think Morrell will fight,” Dirrell said.

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

“Benavidez can take a hit,” Dirrell said. “We never saw Benavidez injured. I’ve never seen him. He got knocked out, but I think it was a quick knockdown (against Ronaldo Gavril on September 8, 2017, in their first fight. He was a little too aggressive, but that’s Benavidez.”

If Morrell is forced to fight on the inside, he has a chance to knock Benavidez out because he’s a lot stronger and bigger than the guys he fought at 168. Gvozdyk couldn’t fight on the inside. He basically torched Benavidez on the outside after running out of gas in the second part of the fight. Again, Dirrell hurt Benavidez, and he was much smaller.

Morrell’s advantage of youth

“I think he calmed down a bit. He is a good counter puncher. So, blocking and returning with your own counter. I think it will be a good fight. I think there will be a chess match first. Then he’ll warm up in the middle of the rounds,” Dirrell said.

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

“No, I don’t see Morrell arguing with him like that,” said Dirrell. I see him moving, throwing his punches, but be on the move. I think sometimes they will mix it up because of the blood, but I don’t see that kind of confusion.”

Morrell, 26, is two years younger than Benavidez, but he is younger and has the freshness factor going for him. He didn’t shoot for 12 years in the professional ranks like Benavidez, and it shows. So Judah and Dirrell view the experience factor as a positive rather than a huge negative for the Mexican monster Benavidez. When a fighter’s career is at the beginning, 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 him into deeper waters for him to win?” Judah said.

“You have to, but Benavidez is also getting stronger as he goes. We have to see how Morrell’s condition is in the fight,” Dirrell said. “I’m currently seeing David in Vegas. If you don’t go to Vegas a few weeks before, it’s over.”