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David Benavidez continues to use talk of steroids as a selling point for his fight against WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1st.
It’s an odd way to promote a fight and keep fans interested, but Benavidez doesn’t seem to have much to say during his interviews. Also, he is he continues to justify himself for his incredible debut performance at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June. It sounds so weak.
PPV title fight
Next month, Benavidez will have his interim WBC 175 lb title on the line against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) in their PBC title on Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You have never heard my name associated with steroids. You hear David Morrell’s name being linked to steroids,” David Benavidez told Xicana Boxing about David Morrell, referring to his unfounded suspicions that he is dirty ahead of their February 1 fight.
“The guy he fought said they tested him but they didn’t test David Morrell, even after the fight there’s no drug test. It’s weird because there are always drug tests right after a fight. I want to tell people that if I have something to hide, why would I ask for more drug tests?
“We had nothing to hide and that is why we are trying to call for clean boxing. We test as much as possible to make sure nothing funny happens.
“I’m definitely going to punish him,” Benavidez said of Morrell. “As for when it’s going to end, I’m not thinking about it. I’m thinking I’ll go in and make my game plan. The difference between my last fight (Oleksandr Gvozdyk) and his fight (Radivoje Kalajdžić). I went in there with two injured hands.
Excuses or reality?
“I had a torn tendon here, I had a fractured wrist and I had a cut when I got 10 stitches three weeks before the fight. So, I was already going through a lot of adversity. The fighter I went up against was a lot better than the fighter he went up against,” Benavidez said.
“I think because of that it shows that I’m a different caliber of fighter. Many people, if they had an injured hand, would cancel the fight. I had two injured hands. I didn’t cancel the fight because it was a big deal.
“Me and Tank fought on the same card at the PPV. So imagine if I pulled out of the fight, I would be letting my fans down. I care about my fans more than anything,” Benavidez said.
What the ‘Mexican Monster’ doesn’t say is that he looked worse against Gvozdyk than Morrell did in his one-sided win over Kalajdzic. Morrell injured his opponent in the head several times in that fight, and his body got stronger as the fight progressed. In contrast, Benavidez never hurt Gvozdyk and tired after six rounds. He was beaten all the way.
There were no signs that Benavidez was injured in his last fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15. He was hitting with full force with both hands and didn’t look injured. where Benavidez looked bad was how he tired in the second half, took a lot of hard shots from the 37-year-old Gvozdyk and was injured to the body.
The fatigue has nothing to do with injured hands, but with Benavidez not handling the extra weight well.
Benavidez made excuses for his poor performance in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, blaming injured hands and a recent cut. He would have been better off letting his performance speak for itself instead of making excuses later.
