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David Benavidez is already planning his strategy for defeating the winner of the February 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.
‘Mexican Monster’ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) says he will use a different game plan for each of them and will box Beterbiev (21-0, 21 KOs) and apply pressure against Buffalo.
Morrell Then Glory
It is still too early for Benavidez to consider facing the winner of that fight as he still has to defeat WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1st. It’s a 50-50 fight in most people’s minds, but not Benavidez.
He is very confident that he will have no problem beating Morel, so he finally agrees to the fight after watching the Cuban work against Radivoj Kalajdzic on August 3rd.
Few people give Benavidez a chance to beat Bivol or Beterbiev, but it’s not surprising that he believes he can beat them. That’s his personality. Like many carefully matched fighters, Benavidez thinks he can beat anyone, which could prove to be his undoing when he fights Morel.
Benavidez was well protected by his PBC matchmakers, and he fought in a division below his size until his last fight. That helped him.
“My main goal is to beat David Morrell and then go up there and face whoever’s next,” David Benavides said. Sean Zittel about his immediate goal for February 1st. I think we were in first place (with VBC) in place to fight the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol. So if that’s the case, I’m 100% ready for that too.
“With these big fights, I can build my brand more and more.” It’s like Canelo’s career. He climbed up and beat bigger (named) fighters. If I don’t get that fight against Canelo, I really don’t care. I’m really happy with my career and happy with the opportunities I’m getting. Now, it just proves that I’m the best in the world no matter what weight class I’m in.
“I just feel bad for people because people are missing out on a great fight,” Benavidez said, still talking about the Canelo fight. “That’s why we’re here, to give people good fights.”
Benavidez should have forgotten about Canelo years ago because he made it clear to everyone that he would never get a chance. If Benavidez had given up a long time ago, he could have moved up to light heavyweight or cruiserweight and maybe won a world title by now.
Bok Beterbiev, Pressure Bivol
“They’re iron heavyweight champions,” Benavidez said of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitri Bivol. “Beterbiev is strong, he is coming in.” He’s like a tank that tries to knock you out, but there’s room for him to be knocked out. Honestly, I thought Buffalo beat him. I thought Buffalo beat him and I thought Buffalo beat him by a landslide. That’s how you can defeat that fighter.”
Benavidez is not a professional referee, so his opinion that Bivol deserved to beat the Beterbies in their Oct. 12 bout is meaningless. However, before their fight he said he thought Buffalo would win, so he already had a bias. Beterbiev won under pressure, and the judges have already made a decision.
Bivol is the best boxer in the 175-pound division, but he was unable to overcome Beterbiev. If Bivol couldn’t do it, neither can a strong player like Benavidez. He’s not a great boxer, and he won’t be able to change the way he fights after 11 years in the professional game. Benavidez is a finished product. If he wins the fight against Beterbiev, he will use the same high-performance style he has always had, and it would be a disaster for him. He would be another Callum Smith, but without the powers.
“With Bivola, you have to pressure him more and throw a lot more combinations,” Benavidez said. “You can’t just throw left and right hooks. You have to be really intelligent with your combinations. So both of you, you have to fight in two different ways, but whoever we fight, we have to be 100% ready. I would definitely be ready, and it would be an amazing fight with both of them.
Benavidez sparred with Bivola before, and it was rumored that he overpowered him. However, if that were true, it would be a sparring match, not a fight. Buffalo would be a problem for Benavidez in a real fight, where he wouldn’t practice like in sparring sessions.
Why Morrell New?
“That’s why I took this (David Morrell) fight without a problem, because when I was waiting for it (to fight the winner of Beterbiev vs. Buffalo), I thought because I was No. 1 (with the WBC), because that fight ended the way whoever did it, you have to give him the respect he deserves for a rematch,” Benavidez said.
It wasn’t until David Morrell looked less than impressive in his last fight against Radivoj Kalajdzic on August 3rd that Benavidez wanted to fight him. Before that fight, Benavides and his dad, Jose Benavides Sr., wanted nothing to do with Morel. They probably saw his weaknesses and decided, ‘I think he’s perfect.’
“So they were throwing me a few other names and I was like, ‘Man, I’m not interested in any of those fights. I want big fights, and if we can’t get somebody big, we’re going to make a big fight out of a person who has a belt that talks a lot of shit,” Benavidez said about why he chose to fight Morel.
The timing of Benavidez’s decision to fight Morel is questionable. It comes on the heels of his first unimpressive performance in a five-year career. Benavidez didn’t raise his hand to fight Morel when he was destroying Senna Agbeka or Yamaguchi Falcao.
“So that’s kind of the path we’ve been on.” This is the fight that people have wanted to see for a long time. So I feel this is the best time for a fight to happen between me and Morel. Only in my mentality I am ready to fight against the best. I don’t care who it is. “I’m 100% ready to fight whoever it is, no,” Benavidez said.
