WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) had to walk through pure fire to defeat previously unbeaten WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight that could have gone either way on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(Credit: Esther Lin & Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions)
Benavidez was down in the 11th round from a right hand by Morrell but got the point back when the referee docked the Cuban without warning for hitting after the bell. With the way the judges scored the fight, it wouldn’t have mattered if the referee hadn’t taken the point off.
Questionable Scores
The judges’ scores were 115-111, 115-111, and 118-108. The last score of that bunch was shockingly bad. The crowd was cheering everything Benavidez did tonight, so it’s possible the judges were going off the noise for ‘The Mexican Monster.’
Morrell’s Strong Showing
There won’t be a rematch, obviously, but there should be because Morrell deserved the win tonight. Benavidez will move on and try and fight the winner of the February 22nd rematch between Artur Beterbeiv and Dmitry Bivol. He’s the WBC mandatory to that belt, and Turki Al-Sheikh wants him ringside for that fight in Riyadh.
This writer scored it 9-3 for Morrell. He appeared to win rounds 1 through 5 and then came on late to dominate 10 through 12 with his power punching. Benavidez was exhausted by the eighth round and had nothing left in his gas tank.
It was the same exact thing we saw in his previous fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th last year. Benavidez faded after seven rounds in that fight and took a ferocious punishment to the head from rounds 8 through 12. His punch resistance may have diminished from that fight because Morrell put him down.
Benavidez was trying to steal the rounds in the last 30 seconds by flurrying with shoeshine punches with no power on them but designed to impress the judges. Morrell had landed all the meaningful punches and had gotten the better of the action, but Benavidez was trying his the tricks that he’d learned from the old pros that he’d beaten during his career. It’s gimmick stuff.
