Benavidez Vs Morrell: WBC knockout, interim and regular light heavyweight titles at stake

The clash between David Benavidez and David Morrell in 52 days on February 1 will be a WBC light heavyweight final eliminator to decide the February 22 mandatory rematch between undisputed 175-pound champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

There is a lot of money at stake for the Benavidez-Morrell winner. Whoever emerges victorious will fight the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol for a huge amount of money, probably in Riyadh, and make a fortune against one of them. For ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, it’s the payday he’s been chasing his entire career with his relentless pursuit of a fight against Canelo Alvarez.

Mandatory WBC position

Morrell’s WBA ‘regular’ 175-pound title and Benavidez’s WBC interim belt will be on the line for their clash on February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Your event will air on PBC on main video PPV.

Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) could upset the apple cart by defeating Benavidez, who has boasted a lot about himself during his 11-year professional career, fighting in a division below his massive cruiserweight frame and competing against smaller and smaller teams. opposition everywhere. His resume is littered with older and smaller fighters like Demetrius Andrade, Roamier Alexis Angulo, David Lemieux and Anthony Dirrell.

If Benavidez is defeated in this fight, fans will realize that he was just a fake job all these years and was never the guy they were led to believe. In other words, a heavy hitter would be a pretty fair description.

The more experienced pro Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is seen as a slight favorite among fans. However, Morrell is the slightly younger, faster, stronger puncher and the better technical fighter. He also has superior stamina than Benavidez, who looked exhausted after six rounds in his debut at 175 last summer, in his June 15 clash against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Las Vegas.

Gvozdyk, 37, had better power in that fight and was the one who drove the fight in the final six rounds. The judges scored it for Benavidez by a wide 12-round decision, but it appeared to be a draw. In other words, Side A’s fighter, David, got lucky.

Many suspect that ‘the Mexican Monster’ is not the same now that he competes at a higher weight, carrying more kilos on his body and facing opponents of the same size with superior power.