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Coach Jose Benavidez Sr. says his own “20-year-old” son, WBC interim light heavyweight champion David ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, will defeat David Morrell on February 1st and then fight the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. rematch. Dmitry Bivol 2.
I’m not sure where Benavidez Sr. got this about David being “20 years old” because he is 28 and has a lot of kilometers on the odometer.
I’d say Benavidez is closer to 38. He’s been a professional since 2013 and has already started to fall apart physically, with multiple injuries all over the place. Even if he were 20 years old, he would be up against it, fighting Cuban Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) in the main event in 23 days on PBC on Prime Video PPV.
It will be a tough fight for Benavidez, especially as he is starting to break down physically after a long career with many wars. He also had many wars in the gym because that is his style.
Jose Sr. also states that Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) could move up to cruiserweight to face the winner of the unification fight between IBF champion Jai Opetaia and WBA & WBO champion Gilberto Zurdo’ Ramirez.
“We have to look impressive to make history and face the other monsters of the division,” Jose Benavidez Sr. said. Fight Hub TVtalking about his son, David Benavidez, who needs to look good against David Morrell on February 1st.
“This is the best fight we’ve ever had. We have a younger fighter. Hungry fighter and it will be explosive. It will be very exciting. This is the fight we need to showcase our talents and show the world that David (Benavidez) can box, David can punch, he can be aggressive, he can counter and he can cut the ring.
“So there are a lot of things that the fans will see in this fight. David Benavidez is only 20 years old (correction: 28). The plan is to go ahead and fight David Morrell, and get a chance with Bivola or Beterbiev, and maybe even Zurda Ramirez. That’s the plan,” Jose Sr. said.
If Benavidez loses this fight, he can forget about fighting the winner of the Beterbiev vs. Bivola 2 rematch or moving up to cruiserweight to challenge Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez for his WBA and WBO titles. Jose Sr. is drunk on his son’s success from the days when he was 168, fighting smaller and older fighters. So, naturally, he talks like his son, Benavidez, can go through anything and continue to do what he’s been doing at super-middleweight.
The Mexican Monster’s last fight at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th should have been a wake-up call for Jose Sr. because that matchup showed that he is not the same guy at light heavyweight that he was at 168.
“We want to face the monsters of the division,” Jose Sr. said. “Zurdo Ramirez just got another belt (in the cruiserweight division). Yesterday we saw another champion, Jai. I think they could face each other and maybe we will face the winner of that. like i said David is only 20 years old.
“We’re not afraid of losing our undefeated records, but we’re not going to do that. I’m very confident that he’s going to come and destroy this guy and go on to bigger and better things,” Jose Benavidez Sr. said.
I hope Jose Sr. doesn’t freak out if he sees Morrell knock out Benavidez and sees all his plans fall through the cracks. That would have happened anyway if Benavidez had fought where he should have been the whole time, at 175, instead of melting down to beat smaller fighters at 168.
This is a typical thing we see today, with younger fighters fighting in weight classes they have no business competing in. They can get away with it when they’re younger, but by the time they hit their late 20s or early 30s, the problem is in order. They are forced to compete in weight categories that correspond to their size.