By Sam Volz: David Benavidez says he would like to see WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr build his name up a little more before he fights him.
Saying that Morrell has to build his name up looks like a ducking move by Benavidez, as he needs his WBA belt, and he has no one else to fight right now. Although Benavidez’s dad Jose Benavidez Sr says he wants Jaime Munguia for him next, that’s probably not going to happen.
Munguia looked so incredibly bad in his last contest against Sergiy Derevyanchenko on June 10th that his promoters at Golden Boy Promotions are likely going to continue keeping him in a holding pattern, waiting & hoping for a Canelo Alvarez or Gennadiy Golovkin cash-out type of fight.
Benavidez is currently belt-less and could use the WBA ‘regular’ 168-lb title that Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) holds to further pressure the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez to fight him or vacate and put himself in the embarrassing situation of openly ducking him.
It’s interesting for boxing fans to see Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) turning down a fight with Morrell, saying he needs more experience.
It looks to some people like Benavidez is worried about the fight because Morrell has looked a lot better in his recent fights than he did in his last one, struggling to beat Caleb Plant last March.
Benavidez says Morrell needs a bigger name
“I think it would be the best fight in the history of 168, to be honest with you. So there are two best fights. Me and Canelo and me and Morrell,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype about two fights at 168, but only one of them, David Morrell, having any chance of happening in this lifetime.
“I feel like they [Team Morrell] have to get his name a little bit bigger, but I’ll fight him whenever. It definitely doesn’t matter to me, but yeah, that’s a great fight.
“For me, there are not too many other options. Like I said, I just want to do my job and be the best of the best, You see, the old fighters. They weren’t b***g about who they were fighting. They just fought everybody, and their careers speak for themself.
“We’re just trying to make the biggest fights happen, and the best fights happen. He [David Morrell] could have all the experience in the world. He’s not going to beat me ever. I don’t know. I don’t think he’s inexperienced. He’s a good fighter. He’s been boxing for a long time.
“I don’t know. I have to get in there and see. I don’t know you yet,” said Benavidez when asked if Morrell is a tougher fight than Caleb Plant. “Yeah, with him [Morrell], he throws more with more bad intentions, but he leaves himself open too, and I’m a good counterpunch, and I have good defense too.
“A lot of people don’t give me credit for my defense. I didn’t really get hit too much from Caleb Plant. I never really get hit that much. So there’s a lot of stuff I could do, and especially fighting a fighter like that, it’s going to bring the best out of me,” Benavidez said.
‘Mexican Monster’ ready for anybody but NOT Morrell
“I’m ready for whatever comes my way. Yeah, body shots. He’s a lefty, so the left to the body is the easiest shot to hit,” said Benavidez. “Do you know what I mean? So he’s never fought somebody that has those body shots that I through and the combinations I throw.
“I don’t think he’s fought somebody as big as me. We’re pretty much the same size and the same height. It’s going to be a good fight. It’s just experience, the overall experience, knowing that I had that type of gas tank, even in the big fights,” Benavidez said about his fight against Plant.
“I didn’t fold in the big fight. The best came out of me. The only problem was that he was moving around a lot, but that’s stuff that I corrected in the gym.
“Yeah, man, I feel like I’m ready to be whoever. It was my first time being in a fight like that, but now I know I’ve got to be a little more focused,” said Benavidez about being too wound up for his fight with Plant last March.
