By Keith Idek
Constantly hearing and reading that he is avoiding David Morrell Jr. inspired David Benavidez to make his much-discussed fight a reality.
The undefeated Benavidez was used to being admired by boxing fans during his fruitless pursuit of a career-defining partner with Canelo Alvarez. It didn’t sit well with Benavidez that he was the suspect in his escalating feud with Muriel, who will fight Benavidez in a 12-round light heavyweight fight on February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Benavidez showed up to his pay-per-view main event in Los Angeles on Tuesday during a press conference to officially announce how upset he is with Morel’s trash talk.
“We’re at it again,” Benavidez said from the podium inside The Novo at L.A. Live. “I told you guys I’d give you the best fight you guys want to see, and here we are again. We got this guy – he’s been talking about me for a while, about two or three years. Disrespecting me, disrespecting my father [Jose Sr.]Disrespecting my brother [Jose]. So now, he wanted to take her with me personally. So, I will personally break his mouth, so he has something to remember me by.
The Cuban-born, Minneapolis-based Morel criticized Benavidez, saying he would “break his mouth.” Morel called Benavidez an “idiot,” among other things, when it was his turn to promote his PBC pay-per-view show on Prime Video.
Morel may have far less professional experience than Benavidez, but he has shown plenty of technical skill and power, winning the secondary WBA belts in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.
“It’s easy — everyone says he’s the boogeyman,” Morell said. “I want to fight the best in the division. The best in the division is him.”
Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) and Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) both drew criticism after their most recent bout, although both boxers won by decision on points.
Benavidez came close to a unanimous decision victory over former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Govzdik (20-2, 16 KOs) on June 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Phoenix native suffered torn ligaments in his right wrist, damage to the middle of his left hand and a cut over his right eye during his 12-round fight vs. Govzdik during training camp. .
Morel, meanwhile, defeated Radivoje Kalajdzic by a wide margin on all three scorecards on August 3 in Los Angeles. Even en route to a 118-110, 117-111 and 117-111 win on the Terence Crawford-Israel Medimov undercard at BMO Stadium, he wasn’t his usual dominant self.
His points victory over Kalajdzic (29-3, 21 KOs) ended Morel’s seven-fight knockout streak, yet he may represent the toughest opponent of Benavidez’s 11-year pro career.
“These are the type of fighters I want to fight,” Benavidez said. “I want to fight people that have confidence in themselves, that they think they’re going to go out there and knock me out, that they say I’ve never fought anyone like him. At the end of the day, he Never fought anyone like me. And I’m gonna prove to everyone that he has levels and I’m not kidding when I say I’m gonna break his mouth, because that’s exactly what I do.
Benavidez, 27, and Muriel, 26, will fight for Benavidez’s WBC interim 175-pound championship and Muriel’s WBA world light heavyweight title. Russian Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) holds the legitimate IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO titles in his division and became the first undisputed light heavyweight champion of boxing’s four-belt era when he defeated the previously unbeaten Russian. Defeated Dmitri Bevel (23-23). 1, 12 KOs) via unanimous decision on October 12 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
