Trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. predicts that his son, WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez will knockout WBA ‘regular’ champ David Morrell in the eighth round when they meet on January 25th next year.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and the Cuban Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) will meet in a fight that will be like an eliminator because the winner will go on to eventually face the winner of the rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
Jose Sr. says he wasn’t interested in making the fight with Morrell, 26, before because he lacked experience, even though his long amateur career gave him more than enough to face Benavidez. Morrell finished his amateur career with a record of 130-5 in his native Cuba.
What finally made Jose Sr. change his mind about Morrell was his recent fight against Radivoje Kalajdzic on August 3rd. After that win by Morrell, Jose Sr. decided it was time to give Benavidez the green light to fight him.
That performance by Morrell wasn’t one of his better ones, and some believe that Jose Jr. needed him to look flawed, so he’d been confident enough to let his son fight him.
“I think it’s time. He’s been doing well. He got another title at 175, and that’s something we need in order to keep advancing. He wants to show the world that he’s ready. Why not fight for the WBA regular?” said trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. to MillCity Boxing about David Morrell facing his son David Benavidez on January 25th.
Morrell holds the WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title after his win over Kalajdzic, and that gives Benavidez an important belt that he needs for him to look credible. His last performance against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th was poor. A lot of fans noted how Benavidez gassed after six rounds, and took a lot of punishment.
“It’s a great fight. He does have a lot of experience. I’ve always said he’s a good fighter,” said Jose Sr. “He’d had a lot of amateur fights, and I think he’s ready. I have no idea [how many fights]. I just heard he was an outstanding amateur.
“David [Benavidez] has all the experience, and I think he’s going to stop him in the eighth round. Now you know he’s tested at 175. He was injured for that fight. In the 11th round, you could see he was cut. He’s good now, and I think it’s going to be a great fight.
“I think it’s a better fight than fighting Jesse Hart. A lot of people were saying that we were running from him and that we were scared,” said Jose Sr. about Morrell being a great fight for Benavidez. “Now that we got the fight, some people are saying we have no experience.
“We want to keep David busy. Nobody wants to step inside the ring with David. We want to get those big fights with Beterbiev and Bivol. But if they don’t want to fight, we can’t be waiting,” said Jose Sr.
