As undefeated WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion David Morrell Jr. nears his much anticipated clash against WBC interim light heavyweight champion David “El Monstro” Benavidez, Morrell has declared his intention to take Benavidez’s spot at the top of the sport when they meet in the main event of a Prime Video PPV taking place Saturday, February 1 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Benavidez is considered one of the most dangerous fighters in boxing, so when I beat him, everyone will see what I’m capable of,” said Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs). “People call him ‘The Mexican Monster’, but I’m not scared of monsters – I hunt them down! He’s never faced someone like me, and come fight night, he’s going to realize that I’m faster, stronger and smarter than anyone he’s ever stepped in the ring with.”
After a contentious opening press conference to announce the fight in November, Morrell and Benavidez continued their war of words right before the holidays at a media workout in Miami that saw the two men nearly come to blows during a heated face off. With the verbal sparring reaching a fever pitch, Morrell has used his opponent’s words as motivation heading into the final stretch of training.
“He’s been running his mouth, calling me out and disrespecting my name,” said Morrell. “That’s fine with me, because words won’t save him when we’re face-to-face in the ring. All this trash talk just fuels me. He’s going to regret every word when I make him eat his pride punch-by-punch.”
The 26-year-old has shown incredible power and skill throughout his career since turning pro in 2019, dominating the 168-pound rankings before a successful 175-pound debut last August as he earned a unanimous decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic. With famed trainer Ronnie Shields in his corner, Morrell has continued to see improvement in his game as he nears this pivotal clash.
“This camp has been brutal, and I love it,” said Morrell. “Ronnie has pushed me harder than ever before, both mentally and physically. Every day in Texas I’ve been sharpening my tools, because I know nothing less than perfection will beat Benavidez. I’m ready to show the world what real work looks like.”
Having called out Benavidez for a fight almost immediately after turning pro, Morrell will now have his chance to show why he sought this matchup for years and is confident that he’ll come through this test with the recognition he deserves.
“This is the moment I’ve been waiting for, it’s the fight that changes everything,” said Morrell. “A win over Benavidez doesn’t just put me at the top – it solidifies me as one of the best fighters in the world. After this fight, there will be no question who the king of the division is. I’m ready to take that crown.”
This is one of those fights that hopefully both fighters could justify their words before fight night. Hopefully: no words, saying “I thought I did enough to win…”.
Nobody can beat Canelo @ 168lbs. NOBODY!!
Blah, blah, blah. Do us a favor, okay? Just bring it on fight night. May the best man win.
I am a big fan of David so maybe I am bias. He has brilliant boxing skills. Appears supremely confident.
Looking forward to this fight.
guys keep saying David, they are both Davids
“After this fight, there will be no question who the king of the division is. I’m ready to take that crown.” Dear Morrell, we know who the king at 175 is, and in order to take his crown, you have to beat him, no Benavidez, his name is Artur Beterbiev
Cubanos have BlG mouths. Just like PRs.
Must be the bIk in them.
Cbns and NOT great fighters, just great yappers.
That’s some racist shit you just said bro have a nice life (archie Bunker)
It’s not racist, what he said are facts and you know it.
Ceviche at list we have more champion that Peruvian with less people keep doing ceviche is the shit you know
Peruvian? how did you come up with that? LoL. Soy Mexicano y te voy lo voy a poner en Español para que me entienas porque parece que tu Ingles esta igual que tu isla de Cuba, BIEN JODIDO.
El unico peleador Cubano que sirvio fue Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles. Todos los de mas, PURO HABLADOR. (recuerdas como le fue al Cepillo con Marques despues de que hablo tanta kaka?)
Saludos Sorullo.
Hey ceviche! Callate! Silencio, dumass.
Queen!!! Good “seeing” you. someone said you had died. what a shame. you still around.
Good thing I’m still around to call you out on your garbage then, huh? Dumass.
Do your research Mexicans have black DNA also so what. Mexico is just like every other Latin country, conquered by Spain.
HELL NO!!!!
GOD FORBID.
Lets not forget Lara beat your Canelo!
And what the hell are you??
You seem to have a bigger mouth than both Cubans and PR’s combined? No one cares about your opinion, talk boxing if you know the sport, which I highly doubt….Otherwise, keep your mouth shut!!!
Very true, and don’t leave out the Dominicans….it’s the chocolate in nthem….lol
The Benevidez brothers are much bigger yappers than any other fighters around, I bet you found out your woman likes bbcs and even your mum as well.
its got to be the Ecuatorian in them.
I predict this will be David’s toughest fight to date. I’m not sure he’s gonna win it. I definitely don’t think he could win it at 168. Let’s see how this plays out!
They are both named David. So you can’t be wrong.
that’s some racist shit you just said Ceviche have a nice life back in wherever you came from.
Mexicans are racist buggers. that is well dokumentet, so don’t worry about the crap coming out of their gobs. Trump would deal with those “border worms “, and send them crawling back over the border where they belong.
We live in a world of HYPOCRASY. When someone says it like it is, people get butt hurt.
So you lack the ability to spell “hypocrisy” and you clearly don’t understand the definition.
Good job.
The irony is, you possess the same traits as those whom you criticize. You come on here “loud talking” with your negative energy. I guess that must be the “Cubano”, “PR”, “blk” “Ecuatorian in you.” As you put it. Not to be confused with Ecuadorian. Have you ever considered night school?
Good fight if Morrel can control distance should be same outcome his brother got with Crawford. But there are two elephants in the room Bivol abd Bertebiev!
Turki working on Canelo-Crawford for May.
Real talk. Combined purses……….600 mil!!!!
Is that even possible??? Let’s say it’s a 50/50
split. 300 mil for each. Crazy, crazy paper.
Other fighters are going to feel underpaid after hearing that.
What a waste. Nothing but a circus.
It’s sad that neither guy wants to fight any of the top fighters that are their size.
Crawford is my favorite active fighter, but this is a total bitch/money move. E gets his retirement fund in one night and has a built in excuse that he fought someone 3 weight classes bigger than him.
These numbers are just invented by social media clout chasers, nobody actually knows what they are.
Good fight if Morrel can control distance should be same outcome his brother got with Crawford. But there are two elephants in the room Bivol and Bertebiev!
Yup, Beterbiev is the King of the hill. Winner might be left out of the King of the division honor for a while as Beterbiev and Bivol look like their headed for a trilogy.
Benavidez fighting style reminds me of the great Welsh world champion Joe Calzaghe. High volume punching non stop.
I just feel that Morrell won’t be given the opportunity to get going from the time the first bell rings.
Outside of throwing a lot of punches they are nothing alike.
That’s like saying Mike Tyson reminds me of George Foreman because they both punch hard.
Actually Forman and Tyson very similar, poor defensive skills
The best defense is a good offense.
-Vince Lombardi
Easy work for Benavidez. Youll see. Morrel has done nothing and with only 11 fights he’s yet to become a real pro.
Look, both of them left something to be desired on their last fight. Benavidez did not overwhelm a fighter, who was at the top of his game, in fact quite opposite. Morrell did not look all that good against hot rod either. I think it’s a toss up at this point. Beterbiev is the king right now with bivol like #1 (a).
i just saw the odds interesting .David Benavidez v David Morrell Betting Odds ; David Benavidez. -170. David Morrell. +150. BetMGM ; Draw. +1600.
I’ll be at the fight and will be putting money on the underdog. However, I have no prediction and can see it going either way.
It’s getting closer.
I’m excited about this one.
Any chance Plant vs Berlanga on the undercard?
Hotrod was able to effectively discourage Morrell, but his style is completely different from Benavidez.
Morrell is an accurate puncher with good power,
he WILL connect with Benavidez’ face.
Look at what he did to Yerbossynuly.
His face was a bloody mess at the end of that fight when he got KO’d. They had to put him in an induced coma after that fight.
He never fought again.
tc- If anybody was on the fence about buying this fight, putting Plant vs Berlanga on the undercard would definitely be the deciding factor, but I think it’s too late. We’re 3 weeks out.
Berlanga can’t lose with Fat Joe as his spit bucket carrier/trainer/cheerleader.
This figures to be such a good fight.
Promoting the belts these two hold is just embarrassing. We’re supposed to be celebrating the ‘undisputed’ light heavyweight championship rematch next month. They were created as inducements for the two Davids to leave 168 as part of the Canelo Protection Program.
This is projected to be a barn burner. Morrell has been calling out Benavidez since he was 3-0. Maybe a fight of the year candidate if they don’t both play it too cautious. One big shot and it could be over. I’m a fan of both so I don’t care which David wins