By Dan Ambrose: WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr (9-0, 8 KOs) boldly called out interim WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez last Saturday night following his first round destruction of his replacement opponent Yamaguchi Falcao (24-2-1, 10 KOs) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After quickly dropping the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Falcao twice in the first round to get a vicious-looking knockout, the 25-year-old talented Cuban Morrell Jr called out Benavidez, telling Showtime:
“David Benavidez is next,” said Morrell. “Where is he? I want to fight Benavidez. He’s next, 100%. I don’t want any other guys at 168 pounds. Just Benavidez. I respect Benavidez and his team, but inside the ring, I don’t respect anything.”
Interestingly, when a painfully thin, older-looking Benavidez was asked after the fight if he would be interested in fighting Morrell, he didn’t have the same enthusiasm for that match-up as he had recently.
The energy that Benavidez had shown previously for the bout with Morrell was absent, making you wonder if his destruction of Falcao put him off or perhaps the harder-than-expected fight against Caleb Plant last March did something to his self-confidence because he didn’t look like the same ambitious guy previous night during his interview. The Plant fight looks like it’s physically aged Benavidez ten years.
If Dan Ambrose were to characterize Benavidez’s response about fighting Morrell, I’d say it was ‘wishy-washy, half-hearted, and perhaps even spineless.’
Again, it’s possible that Morrell’s obliteration of Falcao made Benavidez see the light and realize what could happen to him and his career if he took on the talented Cuban star and got blasted out like we witnessed last night and in his previous performance against Aidos Yerbossynuly.
Morrell could ruin Benavidez’s career with a similar knockout, wrecking his dreams of becoming a mega-millionaire and fighting Canelo Alvarez.
“He looked good. I’ve been wanting to fight him. That’s a potential match-up. Yeah, I love it,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype, reacting to David Morrell Jr’s first round knockout win over Yamaguchi Falcao.
“I’m ready, so we can get it whenever. He’s a great fighter. I’m better than anybody in this weight class, and I can show it. If it’s going to be a tough fight, then it’s going to bring the best out of me.
“That’s what I’m here to do. I want to bring the best out of myself, so I’m willing to fight whoever,” said Benavidez.
