By Joseph Herron: If you didn’t already know before this past Saturday evening, current regular WBA Super-Middleweight title holder David Morrell Jr (9-0, 8 KOs) is a force with which to be reckoned.
Although the night belonged to Gervonta “Tank” Davis, with a dominant 7th-round KO victory over Ryan Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, one could argue that the fighter most affectionately known as Osvary gave the 20,842 fans in attendance the most spectacular and brutal stoppage of the evening.
It took the Cuban native less than a round to dispatch former Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao in the scheduled 12-round contest, with referee Celestino Ruiz immediately calling a halt to the bout at the 2:22 mark of the opening stanza.
Immediately following the contest, the 25-year-old switch-hitting phenom called out interim WBC super middleweight champ David Benavidez.
When asked why he didn’t publicly call out the undisputed 168 lb champ, Canelo Alvarez, head coach Ronnie Shields had much to say about the matter.
“Why,” questioned the five-decade fight trainer. “It won’t do any good. We have no confidence that Canelo will ever face either David of the division, Morrell, or Benavidez.”
“Alvarez has already publicly announced that he has no intention of facing his mandatories this year. I know technically John Ryder is his WBO mandatory, but he’s held that distinction for all but 2 seconds!”
Canelo, North America’s biggest boxing attraction over the past half-decade, hasn’t faced a WBA mandatory challenger since earning the coveted distinction with a dominant victory over Callum Smith in December 2020.
With a scheduled match opposite John Ryder in 2 weeks and a proposed rematch with current WBA Light Heavyweight champ Dmitry Bivol in September, Alvarez’s calendar is ostensibly filled until 2024.
To make matters more confusing, David Morrell Jr has been issued the responsibility of taking on Canelo’s mandatory challengers for the WBA since earning the regular title back in August 2020.
With savage knockout victories over Mario Abel Cazares in 2021 and, most recently, Aidos Yerbossynuly in November of last year, it would seem that Morrell has indirectly discharged Canelo of any responsibilities to the WBA.
“It’s confusing for the fans and completely unfair to my fighter,” stated Coach Shields. “While Alvarez isn’t held accountable and is free to fight whomever he wants, moving from one division to the next, my fighter is taking care of all of Canelo’s mandatory challengers!”
“In fact, David should start using the nickname ‘El Sicario’ because that’s what he’s become to Alvarez, Canelo’s unofficial Hitman for the WBA!”
“And all the while, we can’t get a fight against Canelo Alvarez! Does that make any sense at all?”
Although the World Boxing Association has made attempts over the last year to consolidate their respective titles in each division, don’t expect the sanctioning organization to make a similar effort at 168 lbs.
As long as the WBA can continue to collect 3% of Canelo Alvarez’s purses in 2023, their belt is worth a lot more money around the waist of the current undisputed Super Middleweight champion.
According to Ronnie Shields, Team Morrell isn’t holding their breath any longer and plans to take matters into their own hands.
“We know we’ll never get to compete for the super WBA Super Middleweight championship as long as Canelo is their champion. So we hope to get the next best thing, David Benavidez, later this year.”
But after just nine professional bouts on Osvary’s resume, is the 25-year-old puncher ready for such a seemingly daunting task?
“My champion is ready for anyone at 168 and 175 pounds currently,” claims the prolific fight trainer. “But are they ready for Morrell?”