Benavidez targets Beterbiev and Bivol after Morrell

David Benavidez is already planning his strategy to defeat the winner of the February 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says he will use a different game plan for each of them and will box Beterbiev (21-0, 21 KOs) and apply pressure against Bivol.

Morrell then glory

It’s still too early for Benavidez to think about facing the winner of that fight because he still has to defeat ‘regular’ WBA light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1. That’s a 50-50 fight in most people’s minds, but not in Benavidez.

He is ultra-confident that he will have no problem beating Morrell, so he finally accepts the fight after seeing the Cuban work against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3.

Few people give Benavidez any chance of beating Bivol or Beterbiev, but it’s no surprise that he believes he can beat them. That’s his personality. Like many fighters who have been carefully matched, Benavidez believes he can beat anyone, which may be his downfall when he faces Morrell.

His matchmakers at PBC have kept Benavidez well protected, and he has been fighting in a division under his size until his last fight. That helped him.

“My main goal is to beat up David Morrell and then go up and face the next guy,” David Benavidez told Sean Zittel about its immediate goal for February 1. I think we are ranked No. 1 (with the WBC) in the spot to fight the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol. So if that’s what it is, I’m 100% ready for that too.

“With these big fights, I can build my brand more and more. It’s kind of like Canelo’s career. He went up and beat bigger fighters (named). If I don’t get that fight with Canelo, I don’t really care. I am very happy with my career and happy with the opportunities I am having. Now, this shows that I am the best in the world regardless of weight class.

“I just feel bad for the people because they are missing out on an incredible fight,” Benavidez said, still harping on the Canelo fight. “That’s what we’re here for, to give people good fights.”

Benavidez should have forgotten about Canelo years ago because he made it clear to everyone that he would never get the chance. If Benavidez had given up a long time ago, he could have moved up to light heavyweight or cruiserweight and possibly already won a world title.

Beterbiev Box, Bivol Pressure

“They are the iron champions in the weight category,” Benavidez said of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. “Beterbiev is the strong one, come in. He’s like a tank trying to knock you out, but there’s room for him to be outmatched. I honestly thought Bivol beat him. I thought Bivol beat him and I thought Bivol beat him convincingly. That’s how you can beat that fighter.”

Benavidez is not a professional judge, so his opinion that Bivol deserves the win over Beterbiev in their October 12 clash is nonsense. However, he said before the fight that he thought Bivol was going to win, so he already had a bias. Beterbiev won under pressure and the judges have already made their decision.

Bivol is the best boxer in the 175-pound division, but he failed to overcome Beterbiev. If Bivol couldn’t do it, a volume puncher like Benavidez won’t either. He is not a great boxer and will not be able to change his way of fighting after 11 years in the professional sport. Benavidez is the finished product. If he manages to fight Beterbiev, he will use the same high-performance style he has always used, and that would be a disaster for him. It would be another Callum Smith but without the power.

“With Bivol, you have to put more pressure on him and throw a lot more combinations,” Benavidez said. “You can’t just throw left hooks and right hooks. You have to be very smart with your combinations. So, both of them have to fight in two different ways, but whoever we fight, we have to be 100% prepared. “I would definitely be ready and it would be an amazing fight with both guys.”

Benavidez had faced Bivol before and was rumored to have bested him. However, if that were true, it would be training, not a fight. Bivol would be a problem for Benavidez in a real fight, where he wouldn’t be practicing like he did during sparring sessions.

Why Morrell now?

“That’s why I took this fight (David Morrell) without a problem because when I was waiting for that (to fight the winner of Beterbiev vs. Bivol), I thought because he was the number one contender (with the WBC), because that fight ended with the fight . Since he did it, we must give him the respect that a rematch deserves,” Benavidez said.

It wasn’t until David Morrell looked less than impressive in his last fight against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3 that Benavidez wanted to fight him. Before that fight, Benavidez and his father, José Benavidez Sr., wanted nothing to do with Morrell. They probably saw his weaknesses and decided, “I think he’s perfect.”

“So they were giving me some other names and I was like, ‘Man, I’m not interested in any of those fights.’ I want big fights, and if we can’t get anyone big, we’re going to have a big fight with a person who has a belt who talks a lot of shit,’” Benavidez said about why he decided to fight Morrell.

The timing of Benavidez’s decision to fight Morrell is suspicious. It comes on the heels of his first mediocre performance in his five-year career. Benavidez didn’t raise his hand to fight Morrell when he was destroying Sena Agbeko or Yamaguchi Falcao.

“So, that’s the path we took. This is a fight that people have wanted to see for a long time. So, I feel like this is the best time to make the fight between Morrell and I happen. It’s just in my mentality that I’m ready to fight the best. I don’t care who it is. I am 100% ready to fight anyone, no,” Benavidez said.