David Benavidez says he’s got a fight in the works against David Morrell next. He says he’s hoping Morrell will “accept” the offer for a fight.
This is a risky fight for Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), who holds the WBC interim light heavyweight title and would be putting that at stake against the unbeaten WBA ‘regular’ champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs).
If the Benavidez-Morrell fight gets made, it could be the co-feature for Gervonta Davis’ next fight in December. Adding that fight to the card would make it more PPV-worthy, especially if Tank chooses to go through with his rumored title defense against Lamond Roach.
“Cooking up something big for y’all for my next fight. Stay tuned. If everything goes right and he accepts, I’m fighting Morrell next,” said David Benavidez on social media.
The Cuban Morrell, 26, didn’t look great in his debut against Radivoje Kalajdzic last month on August 3rd in a Riyadh Season event at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Although Morrell won the fight by a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision, he didn’t perform well. He couldn’t throw combinations and appeared timid when Kalajdzic hit him with counters. However, Morrell did hurt Kalajdzic numerous times but failed to pour it on with a storm of shots to finish the job like Artur Beterbiev had done when he knocked out this fighter in the fifth round in 2019.
If the fight gets made between Benavidez and Morrell, it’ll have a lot riding on it because the winner will be in line to face the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol clash on October 12th. Benavidez has been assuming that he’ll be next, but Morrell could mess up his plans.
It’s crucial that Benavidez get a solid win under his belt to build his credibility to fight the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol fight because he did not look good in his debut at 175 against former WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th.
Benavidez was exhausted after round six and dominated the last six rounds by Gvozdyk in a fight that many felt should have been scored as a draw. The Nevada judges gave Benavidez a wide 12 round decision, but fans saw that as him being given preferential treatment due to his A-side status.
The performance by Benavidez showed that he’s not able to dominate at 175 like he did at 168, and that he’s going to have problems in this weight class. If Benavidez can beat Morrell and look good, he’ll look more credible as a challenger for the Beterbiev vs. Bivol winner. Also, he’ll hold the WBA ‘regular’ title, making him look more deserving of fighting those guys.
