By Sam Volz: Trainer Jose Benavidez Sr says he’s not interested in son David Benavidez challenging WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr next in September. Jose Sr says he wants Benavidez to fight Jaime Munguia next, and if not him, Dmitry Bivol at 175.
It sounds like Jose Sr is getting cold feet about letting his son Benavidez face the ‘real monster’ Cuban Morrell Jr and get beaten by him. Benavidez to built up to be this monster, but he was exposed by Caleb Plant last March.
At the same time, David Morrell Jr has looked pure 24k gold in his last two fights, knocking out Yamaguchi Falcão and Aidos Yerbossynuly. Morrell Jr is not just looking better than Benavidez; he’s looking A LOT better.
However, Benavidez’s promoter Sampson Lewkowicz said in an interview with Dan Rafael at Fight Freaks Unite that the contest with Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) is “agreed” for October or November for Showtime PPV.
Jose Sr says Morrell Jr lacks experience and isn’t well-known enough right now for Benavidez to fight him. Getting Munguia (42-0, 33 KO) would be a good option, but it’s difficult to believe Golden Boy Promotions will allow him to fight Benavidez, especially after his poor performance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko on June 10th.
Munguia looked something awful in that fight and was lucky to win against the 37-year-old Derevyanchenko. After the way Munguia looked in that fight, Golden Boy isn’t going to throw him to the wolves and let him get chewed apart by Benavidez or anyone halfway decent.
“I would love to fight David Morrell, but David Morrell is not there yet, in my opinion. He needs a little bit more fans. Maybe like about two or three more fights,” said trainer Jose Benavidez Sr to MillCity Boxing when asked about the potential fight against WBA ‘regular’ super middleweight champion David Morrell Jr in October or November.
It could be that Jose Sr doesn’t feel that the 26-year-old Benavidez is NOT up to the task of beating Morrell Jr, so he’s going to put the brakes on making that fight.
“In those two or three more fights, he’s going to get more dangerous also, but we’ll take him right now, no problem. I think David can stop him, but like in two or three fights, man, this guy is super talented. He’s learning a lot. He’s getting more experience; he’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger.
“Does that make sense? But in the future, it will be a big fight, too, but we’ll take him right now. But I think Munguia has the people. He’ll steal all the fans from Canelo also by facing David Benavidez. Two great Mexicans going at it. We’ll prove who’s the best Mexican at 168,” said Jose Sr.
Benavidez could have just as many problems trying to get a fight against Munguia as he did with Canelo Alvarez. It would be better for Jose Sr to put Munguia out of his mind because he’s likely to come up empty with that fight as well.
“If that doesn’t happen, I would love to do the revenge against [Dmitry] Bivol. Bivol is the Mexican killer now, in my eyes,” said Jose Sr. “He f***ed up Canelo, he f***ed up Zurdo Ramirez. So imagine if he fights David [Benavidez]. That’s a bigger fight than Canelo, to be honest.
“The title I would love the title [of the Benavidez vs. Bivol fight would be] ‘The Revenge of the Mexicans’ or something. Imagine if he beats David too. But also, if we beat Bivol, that puts us in a bigger, better spot also. Exactly and we didn’t even have to face Canelo. F**k Canelo.
“We’re willing to do whatever. We’re here patiently. David just fought [on March 25th]. We’re thinking about fighting in September or October. So if he wants to get it on in September, let’s make it happen.
“I think we should go up and fight at 175 against Bivol. Take that opportunity, and then come back to 168 and or go with Beterbiev,” said Benavidez Sr.
