Morel's power poses a threat to Benavidez's aggressive style

David Morrell says WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez won't be able to fight him offensively on February 1 because he won't let him.

(Credit: Jacob De Leon/Team Morrell)

Benavidez's risky style

Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) says he will neutralize Benavidez's offense by hitting him hard with counters, making him wary of opening as usual. If Benavidez chooses to fight in his normal, reckless fashion, warns Morel, it will be a mistake he will live to regret.

Benavidez-Morrell will headline PBC's 26 Days of Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Morel, 26, will defend his “regular” WBA light heavyweight title against 28-year-old “Mexican monster” Benavidez.

It will be interesting to see how much punishment Benavidez can take in this fight before going down. If he doesn't change his ultra-aggressive fighting style for this fight, he will surely get knocked out by Morrell because this guy is one of the biggest punchers in the 175lb division. He has one punch power and can knock out Benavidez if he fights like a wild man like he usually does.

“It's all part of the show. I don't know if Benavidez has tried some kind of twisted psychological warfare against anyone else in the past. I'm insightful and focused on February 1,” David Morrell told the Sean Zittel. “I'm not going to play any mind games.

“Put your money where your mouth is. It's one thing to say you're going to do it, but it's another thing to get in the ring to actually do it,” said Morel, reacting to being told that Benavidez says he will pressure him continuously in every round .

“Let's see if he's capable of doing everything he says he wants to do.” This will be a completely different fight compared to his past fights. He's not going to be able to be as offensive and aggressive as he was because it's not going to be that type of fight,” Morrell said.

From the inside

Benavidez knows only one style of fighting: pressure his opponents from the inside. Although he is 6'2”, he does not have an outside game. He is 100% an inside fighter and one-dimensional, so he has no choice but to apply pressure. If the fight is from a distance, Morel will cook him.

The power difference could sink Benavidez because he's just a bulk puncher and can't generate pop on his punches. This is a product of his weak upper body. He is not blessed with power like Morel or Artur Beterbiev. On the inside, Morrell is much more powerful and capable of knocking out his opponents.

Watching what he did to Radivoje Kalajdzic in the third round of their fight last August was scary. Kalajdzic stuffed Morel, hoping to get the better of him on the inside. Morel then unleashed a flurry of head kicks, all with knockout power, that sent Kalajdzic reeling.

Benavidez doesn't have any power on the inside and could get himself in trouble when he tries to fight Morel up close. Again, Benavidez has no choice but to fight on the inside because he can't land longer punches for whatever reason. It could be some physical problem with his body or a bad experience he had in the past. Whatever it is, he can't fight from the outside.

“I'm not going to be the opponent that's going to be right there on the corner to take,” Morrell said. “I'm going to make things happen on my own and with that I'm going to have to adjust. It's not going to be just a free-for-all for him where he's going to be able to corner me and corner me the way he's cornered other opponents in the past.”

Benavidez has pinned opponents smaller than him against the ropes in the past when he was campaigning at 168. He was a light heavyweight who fought at super middleweight for a weight and size advantage.

When he finally moved up to 175 last summer against former WBC champion Alexander Gvozdyk, he couldn't dominate him on the inside like he did against his smaller foes at 168. That's why he looked so average and no better than any fringe division rival. He didn't look like a top five light heavyweight.

Morel's counter-strategy

“I can tell you 100 percent that I'll be able to counter, fight off the back foot for whatever is asked of me,” Morrell said. “He can be as aggressive as he wants, but he better not make a mistake because at this level, with an opponent like me, if he makes a mistake or a few mistakes, there will be a high price for him to pay,” said Morel.

Benavidez was hit a lot by Caleb Plant, hurt twice by Anthony Dirrell, hammered often by Demetrius Andrade and dropped by Ronald Gavril. He leaves himself open to counter shots with his aggressive volume punch and his decision to fight up close. While this style worked for him, it also resulted in him getting hit a lot.

Morrell's punching power may prove to be too much for Benavidez in the end, and we'll likely see a knockout by the sixth round. Benavidez will fight like a wild man and get caught by Morel.