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Zab Judah and Anthony Dirrell believe WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez has too much experience for David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and will defeat him in their 12-round headliner fight on February 1st at T- Mobile Arena. in Las Vegas.
12 years of damage: the toll it takes
The wear and tear of a long, grueling 12-year career is starting to show on ‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez. We are seeing the beginning of the breakdown.
Although he is young at 28, he physically looks much older, like someone in his mid-to-late 30s, due to the punishment he received. We’re seeing that now, as he enters the fray with multiple injuries, stamina issues and slowed reflexes.
In Benavidez’s last fight, his head looked like a foot with shots from Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15.
He didn’t block anything and Gvozdik hit him at will. If the Ukrainian fighter hadn’t been recently retired for four years, he probably would have knocked out Benavidez. That was hard to watch. Granted, it was his first fight at 175, but it was obvious that David had reached his ceiling. It was a combination of age and fighting where it should have been all along.
Weight Bully?
People criticize Benavidez for fighting outside his natural weight, competing at 168, not 175. Even though he was young enough to dehydrate at the weight, he probably wouldn’t have been able to do this if there was a strict rehydration 10 pound limit to stop him to explode. In other words, Benavidez was a bully, and Judah and Dirrell don’t mention it.
Judah thinks Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) will knock out Morrell early, using his loud punching. He piles on his opponents and unloads non-stop punches. He did that with Dirrell and tried it with his last opponent, Alexander Gvozdyk. In that case it failed.
“I believe the fight lasts four rounds.” David Benavidez by knockout,” said Zab Judah MillCity Bookingpicking Benavidez to stop David Morrell on February 1st. “David comes in the first round.
“I think it’s going to take longer than that,” Anthony Dirrell said. “David (Benavidez) doesn’t have one punch (power). It is an accumulation. David has some pop, but I don’t see a one-punch knockout.
“David Morrell can take a little. Since he is from Cuba, he can guess. Everyone knows that Cubans are made to hit. If I have to lean one way, it’s David Benavidez 100% because of his resume. We haven’t seen Morrel tested. We have seen David tested on more than one occasion.
“We haven’t seen Morrell tested in a big old fight of this magnitude.” This fight, everyone will want to see this fight. It depends on how Morel fights,” Dirrell said when asked if Morel could go the 12-round distance with Benavides.
Dirrell has first-hand experience of fighting Benavidez on September 28, 2019 and was stopped in the ninth round due to a cut. He stunned him twice with a left jab, but was unable to finish him off. Benavidez was much bigger than Dirrell and looked like a light heavyweight
Past-Their-Prime Fighters
We also haven’t seen Benavidez test himself in a big fight. It’s not just Morrell. Dirrell was in his mid-30s when he fought Benavidez, and in his prime. Also, he was much smaller, going up against the Mexican light heavyweight monster.
Morrell fought better guys in the amateur ranks than Benavidez as a pro. It’s not even close. Morel has the experience advantage over quality opposition. The best fighters Benavidez fought were mostly older over the hill fighters like these guys:
– Dimitrije Andrade: 36
– Aleksandar Gvozdik: 37
– David Lemieux: 35
– Roamer Alexis Angulo: 40
Caleb Plant was not old when he fought Benavidez in 2023, but Canelo Alvarez had already knocked him out in 2021. He had no power. That’s the only junior world-class fighter Benavidez has beaten. The rest are old.
“David, the accumulation will get to him (Morell). It has some pop. Every hit, you’ll feel it. “I think Morrell will fight,” Dirrell said.
“Do you think David Morrell can knock out David Benavidez?” Judah said.
“Benavidez can still take a punch,” Dirrell said. “We never saw Benavidez hurt.” I never saw him. He got knocked out, but I think it was a blitz knockdown (against Ronald Gavril on September 8, 2017 in their first fight. He was a little too aggressive, but that’s Benavidez.”
If Morel is forced to fight on the inside, he has a chance to knock out Benavidez because he is much stronger and bigger than the guys he fought at 168. Gvozdik couldn’t fight on the inside. He mostly lit up Benavidez on the outside after shutting down in the latter part of the fight. Again, Dirrell hurt Benavidez, and he was much smaller.
Morrell’s Youthful Advantage
“I think he’s calmed down a little bit.” He is a good counter puncher. So, blocking and coming back with your counter. I think it will be a good fight. I think it will be a chess match first. Then he’ll heat up in the middle of the rounds,” Dirrell said.
“I see it go four laps,” Judah said.
“No, I don’t see Morrell messing with him like that,” said Dirrell. “I see him moving, getting his shots, but be on the move. I think sometimes they will mix it up because of the blood, but I don’t see that kind of confusion.”
Morel, 26, is two years younger than Benavidez, but he’s younger and has that freshness factor that works to his advantage. He didn’t hit for 12 years in the pros like Benavides, and it shows. So Judah and Dirrell see the experience factor as a positive rather than a huge negative for the Mexican monster Benavidez. When it’s early in a fighter’s career, experience matters, but not when a guy’s been in the game since 2013. That’s when it’s a negative.
“So you’re saying Morel has to take him into deeper waters to win?” Judah said.
“You have to, but Benavidez is also getting stronger as he goes. “We have to see what Morrell’s condition is in the fight,” Dirrell said. “I’m seeing David in Vegas right now. If you don’t go to Vegas a few weeks early, it’s over.
