Benavidez: “I was scared Morel!”

David Benavidez is still convinced he has David Morrell “scared” from him for the brutal beating he gave him during their face-to-face meeting at the Dec. 17 media workout to promote their Feb. 1 fight.

The “Mexican Monster” used fear to promote the fight and he often talked about it in his interviews, saying he saw it in Morel.

This focus on fear is pointless because it won't stop Morel from striking on February 1st. You can tell by watching Benavidez that he is anxious about this fight. Millions have been staked on him.

Benavidez's Fear Projection

Morel fought the two-time Cuban gold medalist Julio Cesar La Cruzand he didn't seem scared. This guy is a better fighter than Benavidez by a mile.

It seems important to him that Morel gets scared. If Benavidez believed in himself, he wouldn't have focused so much on seeing the fear in the Cuban. The fact that he didn't want to fight Morel for two solid years is an indication that it was he who lived in fear.

“I scared him. I definitely know he is 100% afraid of me. I'm going to hit him on February 1st,” David Benavidez told Bet On Yourself YouTube channel talking about David Morrell.

“If I could sit on my punches, I'd get this guy out of there,” Benavidez said of his last opponent, Alexander Gvozdyk, whom he beat last year on June 15. “That's a big part of the reason I made this fight happen (winning the WBA 'ordinary' welterweight title from Morrell).

“Also, another part is I have to go in there and shut that guy up. I can show the world what I'm about and I can beat up David Morrell in front of everyone. If you beat the best of the best, the money will come. What matters to me is the respect you get from people, and the money will come,” Benavides said.

The part about Benavidez not being able to sit on his punches looks to some like him making excuses to try to explain away his poor performance against Gvozdik.

It didn't look like Benavidez was injured, but it's understandable why he would mention his ailments. He was terrible in this fight that should have been scored as a 12 round draw.

The judges gave Benavidez a decision, but he looked 100% like he didn't do enough to win. So his mention of injuries is now completely understandable. It's called “damage control.”

False bravado

“David Morrell is a good fighter. The Cuban school of boxing, they are technical fighters. The problem with me is that I have a lot of experience. I have been in the ring with many great champions, not only in fights but also in sparring. I have the dog in me. I just have to get in there and activate it,” Benvidez said.

From the way “The Mexican Monster” is talking, he will try to beat Morel, hoping he can work his way through his punches to either knock him out or win a grueling decision. Benavidez is tailor-made for Morel with his emphasis on combination punches, which will leave him wide open for the Cuban's counter punches.

It's a risky way to fight Morrell because he's not an old, undersized fighter like many of the guys Benavidez beat when he was campaigning at 168 against smaller guys.

Sick hand speed‼️ Who do you have on February 1st? https://t.co/jCHBTyF3Y3

— Leonard Ellerbe (@LEllerbe) January 3, 2025