David Benavidez says he wants his fight against the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 winner to be staged in the U.S. in Las Vegas rather than in Saudi Arabia next.
(Credit: Esther Lin/Premier Boxing Champions
WBC interim light heavyweight champion Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) defeated WBA ‘regular’ champion David Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The scores were 115-111, 115-111 and 118-108.
Benavidez isn’t calling the shots against the winner of the Beterbiev-Bivol 2 fight. The ‘Mexican Monster’ may have been the A-side against the Cuban Morrell, but that won’t work against the undisputed champion, whether that be Beterbiev or Bivol.
This was a grueling fight for Benavidez tonight against Morrell, as he was dropped in the 11th round. He took a lot of heavy shots that left his face looking like a Halloween fight mask. Morrell’s face was barely marked up at all, which indicates that Benavidez doesn’t pack a punch at 175.
“I’m willing to fight the best of whoever is on the table. I’m just going to keep doing that, because after I beat Bivol or Beterbiev, there’s always going to be new fighters coming up,” said David Benavidez at the post-fight press conference after his win over David Morrell on Saturday night.
“It’s not about who comes next. It’s about beating the best fighter on the table. I definitely would. I feel it would sell more here,” said Benavidez when asked if he would prefer his fight against the winner of the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch occur in the U.S. rather than in Saud Arabia.
“My fan base is here. I’m a Las Vegas fighter. I would love to go over there [Riyadh] and fight, but I feel this is my market right here. I feel like we’re doing really well. We just sold out the T-Mobile Arena. It’s one of my dreams come true for me.
If Turki wants that fight in Riyadh, Benavidez is going to have to go along with the program because he didn’t look good enough in his fight tonight against Morrell to act like he’s a great fighter.
“I want to take advantage of this market because I’ve worked for 11 years. This is my first time having a crowd like that. So, I want to stay here. I think that fight would be even bigger here,” said Benavidez.
