Morrell’s power represents a threat to Benavidez’s aggressive style

David Morrell says WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez won’t be able to fight him offensively on February 1 because he won’t let him.

(Credit: Jacob De León/Team Morrell)

Benavidez’s risky style

Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) says he will neutralize Benavidez’s offense by hitting him hard with counterattacks, making him cautious about opening up like he normally does. If Benavidez decides to fight in his normal, reckless way, Morrell warns, it will be a mistake he will live to regret.

Benavidez-Morrell will headline the Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in 26 days at PBC. Morrell, 26, will defend his WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title against 28-year-old ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez.

It will be interesting to see how much punishment Benavidez can take in this fight before going down. If he doesn’t change his ultra-aggressive fighting style for this fight, Morrell will surely knock him out because this guy is one of the biggest punchers in the 175-pound division. He has one-punch power and can knock out Benavidez if he fights like a wild man like he normally does.

“This is all part of the show. I don’t know if Benavidez has tried any twisted psychological warfare on anyone else in the past. “I have a sharp mind and I am focused on February 1,” David Morrell told Sean Zittel. “I’m not going to play any mind games.

“Put your money where your mouth is. It’s one thing to say you’re going to do it, but the other is to get in the ring to actually do it,” Morrell said, reacting to being told that Benavidez says he will pressure him non-stop every round.

“Let’s see if he’s capable of doing everything he says he wants to do. This will be a completely different fight compared to their past fights. “He won’t be able to be as offensive and aggressive as he has been because this isn’t going to be that type of fight,” Morrell said.

inside

Benavidez only knows one fighting style: press his opponents from the inside. Although he is 6’2” tall, he has no outside game. He is 100% an internal and one-dimensional fighter, so he has no choice but to push. If the fight takes place at a distance, Morrell will cook it.

The power difference could sink Benavidez because he is only a volume hitter and can’t generate any pop on his punches. That is a product of weakness in his upper body. He hasn’t been blessed with the strength of Morrell or Artur Beterbiev. On the inside, Morrell is much more powerful and capable of knocking out his opponents.

Watching what he did to Radivoje Kalajdzic in the third round of their fight last August was terrifying. Kalajdzic attacked Morrell, hoping to beat him on the inside. Morrell then unleashed a flurry of headshots, all with devastating force, and left Kalajdzic reeling.

Benavidez does not possess any kind of power on the inside and could get into trouble if he tries to fight near Morrell. Again, Benavidez has no choice but to fight on the inside because for some reason he can’t throw longer punches. It could be some physical problem with your body or a bad experience you had in the past. Whatever it is, it can’t fight outside.

“I’m not going to be the type of opponent that’s going to be there in the corner for the taking,” Morrell said. “I’m going to make my own things happen and with that, I’m going to have to adapt. It won’t just be a free-for-all for him where he can pressure me and pin me down the same way he has cornered other opponents in the past.”

Benavidez pinned opponents who were smaller than him against the ropes in the past when campaigning at 168. He was a light heavyweight who fought at super middleweight for a weight and size advantage.

When he finally moved up to 175 last summer against former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, he couldn’t dominate him on the inside like he did against his smaller foes at 168. That’s why he looked so average and no better than any fringe contender in the division. . He didn’t look like a top five light heavyweight.

Morrell’s counterstrategy

“I can tell you 100% that I’m going to be able to counterpunch and fight off the back foot for anything that’s required of me,” Morrell said. “You can be as aggressive in your mentality as you want, but you better not make a mistake because at this level, with the type of opponent I am, if you make a mistake or several mistakes, there will be a high price for it.” Let him pay,” Morrell said.

Benavidez was hit a lot by Caleb Plant, hurt twice by Anthony Dirrell, pinned frequently by Demetrius Andrade and taken down by Ronald Gavril. He leaves himself open to counterattacks with his aggressive volume of strikes and his decision to fight hand-to-hand. While that style has worked for him, it has also caused him many blows.

Morrell’s punching power might be too much for Benavidez in the end, and we’ll likely see a sixth-round knockout. Benavidez will fight like a savage and will be caught by Morrell.