Benavidez: “I scared Morrell!”

David Benavidez remains convinced that he has David Morrell “scared” of him for the strong push he gave him during their confrontation at press training on December 17 to promote their February 1 fight.

‘The Mexican Monster’ uses fear to promote the fight, and talks about it frequently in his interviews, saying that he sees it in Morrell.

This focus on fear is pointless because it won’t stop Morrell from throwing punches on February 1st. Looking at Benavidez you can tell he is worried about this fight. There are millions at stake for him.

Benavidez’s projection of fear

Morrell fought the two-time Cuban gold medalist Julio Cesar La Cruzand he didn’t seem scared. That guy is a much better fighter than Benavidez.

It seems important for him to scare Morrell. If Benavidez believed in himself he would not focus so much on seeing fear in the Cuban. The fact that he didn’t want to fight Morrell for two full years is an indication that he was the one living in fear.

“I scared him. I definitely know that he is 100% afraid of me. “I’m going to beat him up on February 1,” David Benavidez told Bet On Yourself. YouTube channel, talking about David Morrell.

“If I could have sat on my punches, I would have gotten that guy out of there,” Benavidez said of his last opponent, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, whom he beat last year on June 15. “That’s a big part of why I made this fight happen (winning the WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title from Morrell).

“Also, another part is that I can go in and shut this guy up. I can show the world what I do and I can beat up David Morrell in front of everyone. If you beat the best of the best, the money will come. What matters to me is the respect that one receives from people, and the money is going to arrive, that’s it,” said Benavidez.

The part about Benavidez not being able to sit down and take his punches is that he talked about his injury during his fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 in his debut at 175. He stated after the fight that he fought through several injuries.

It didn’t look like Benavidez was hurt, but you can understand why he would mention his ailments. He was terrible in that fight, which should have been scored as a 12-round draw.

The judges gave the decision to Benavidez, but it seemed 100% like he hadn’t done enough to win. Therefore, his mention of injuries now is forever understandable. It’s called “damage control.”

False bravado

“David Morrell is a good fighter. The Cuban boxing school is technical fighters. The thing about me is that I have a lot of experience. I have been in the ring with many great champions, not only in fights but also in sparring. I have the dog inside me. I just have to go in and activate it,” Benvidez said.

The way the ‘Mexican Monster’ talks, he will try to outfight Morrell, hoping he can land his punches to knock him out or win a grueling decision. Benavidez is tailor-made for Morrell with his emphasis on combination punches, which will leave him wide open to the Cuban’s counterpunches.

That’s a risky way to fight Morrell because he’s not an old, undersized fighter like a lot of the guys Benavidez beat when he was campaigning at 168 against smaller guys.

Sick hand speed‼️ Who do you have on February 1st? https://t.co/jCHBTyF3Y3

-Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) January 3, 2025