Will Benavides’ chin hold up against Morel?

Trainer Kenny Ellis thinks David Benavidez will “overpower” David Morrell with volume and wear him down in the later rounds. Ellis believes Benavidez will become more powerful as the rounds go on.

WBC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and WBA ‘Regular’ Champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) meet in 15 days on PBC on Prime Video PPV on February 1st at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Ellis predicts it won’t take Benavidez as long to figure out Morel as Caleb Plant because he’s a better boxer. Plant looked undersized in the ring compared to the much larger, lighter, heavyweight-sized Benavides, and lacked the power to force him to retire.

Morrell’s Power

“Until Morel’s belt hit Benavidez.” Those belts are extremely heavy and can cause an extreme cut if they hit you right, and that would delay the whole damn fight,” said trainer Kenny Ellis. MillCity Bookingreferring to David Morrell throwing his WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight belt to David Benavidez after he pushed him during their bout at a media training session in Miami on December 17th.

“In that fight, David Morrell has that one-punch knockout power where he can catch and he can catch Benavidez. I just think ‘Mexican Monster’ is going to overwhelm him with everything. He’s going to crush him as the Mexican monster gets stronger and stronger as the rounds go by.

“He’s got a great shot himself, but I can’t see Morrell taking him out of the box because he won’t have enough space to set it up.” He won’t have that break between punches to adjust it, because once the Mexican monster starts. he will make you uncomfortable. They won’t let you set anything up,” Ellis said.

Benavides pushed Morel in the media training, so he threw the belt at him. It wasn’t like Morrell threw the belt for no reason. He did it because Benavidez pushed him hard when he refused to shake hands.

Morel can box, but he will be forced to go to war with Benavides as he chases him around the ring. This could work in Morel’s favor as he likes to move and then stop landing hard shots on his oncoming opponents. He catches them as they go forward. If he nails Benavidez with a hard punch, he could knock him out.

“It’s a possibility,” Ellis said when asked if Morel could hit Benavidez so hard that he doesn’t land as much as he usually does because he’ll be afraid of being hit by the Cuban. “Anything can happen, but I’m rocking with the ‘Mexican Monster.’

It’s doubtful that Benavidez will change his usual approach of overwhelming his opponents with activity if Morrell hits him hard. If he focuses on throwing the ‘Mexican Monster’ in the head, it won’t work because he has excellent impact resistance. However, I’ve never seen Benavidez get hit much by a fighter with elite power.

Oleksandr Gvozdik had a lot of power, but he didn’t land enough hard punches. He mostly pushed his punches, tried not to get tired and focused on boxing. That style allowed Benavidez to build a big lead through eight rounds. It was too late when Gvozdik finally entered the championship rounds and needed a knockout. That’s the only real puncher Benavidez has fought other than David Lemieux, who was old and over the hill when they fought.

“I like Morrell, though. I think (Caleb) Plant is a better boxer than Morrell. I don’t think it’s going to take Benavidez that long to figure him out, support him and do what he’s doing. At the same time, Morel has one-hit power that can turn things around and slow things down. But I rock with the ‘Mexican Monster,’ Ellis said.

Caleb Plant tried to fight Benavidez on the inside, and took a lot of punishment in the second half. At first, Caleb did well, and beat him through the heel. Morrell won’t fight Benavidez on the inside, but if he does, he showed in his fight against Hot Rod that he has tremendous power on the inside.