David Benavidez vs David Morrell Preview Feb. 1st, 2025
Two unbeaten former Super Middleweight Champions will be going at it as Light Heavyweight Titlists this Saturday Feb. 1st as David Benavidez of Phoenix, Arizona puts his WBC Interim Belt on the line against WBA Regular Champion David Morrell of Cuba. Former WBC Super Middleweight Champ Benavidez last fought in June when he beat former WBC Light Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk of Ukraine via a 12-round unanimous decision for the vacant Interim WBC Title. Meanwhile, former WBA Super Middleweight Champion Morrell battled it out in August with Radivoje Kalajdzic for the vacant regular WBA Heavyweight Belt and took a lacklustre 12-round unanimous decision. This weekend’s 12-rounder from Las Vegas, Nevada can be seen live on Prime Amazon pay-per-view and several other pay-per-view platforms.
Benavidez vs Morrell Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- David Morrell +165
- David Benavidez -205
My Pick
The 28-year-old Benavidez won the vacant WBC Middleweight Belt in September, 2017 with a split decision over Ronald Gavril even though he was dropped in the 12th round. He then beat Gavril by unanimous decision in a rematch five months later. He sat out for a year after testing positive for cocaine use and returned in March, 2019 with a second-round stoppage of J’Leon Love. Benavidez then regained the title by stopping Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round in September, 2019.
He lost it again though, this time on the weigh scale in August, 2020 against Roamer Alexis Angulo when he came in 2.8 lbs overweight. However, he still took care of Angulo after 10 rounds. He picked up the Interim Belt in May, 2022 when he halted former world champion David Lemieux in the third round and defended it against Caleb Plant via a 12-round unanimous decision and then stopped Demetrius Andrade after six rounds in November, 2023.
Benavidez is a hard-hitter who turned pro in 2013 after a short 15-0 amateur career. He’s boxed 148 rounds since and won the vacant NABF Junior Light Heavyweight Title in April, 2015 with a first-round TKO of Rollin Williams. He enters the match with a perfect record of 29-0 with 25 Ko’s and owns quite a bit of power with a current knockout ratio of 82.8 per cent. Gavril took him the distance in both of their fights but he then won six in a row by stoppage before Plant took him the distance last year.
Benavidez likes to slug it out and that means he’s not really the hardest guy to hit, which makes him a very fan-friendly fighter. He also appears to have a pretty sturdy chin though even though Gavril decked him. Benavidez stands 6-feet-2-inches tall with a reach of 74.5 inches and his biggest wins so far have been over Andrade, Plant, Lemieux, Kyrone Davis, Ronald Ellis, Angulo, Dirrell, Love, Gavril, Rogelio (Porky) Medina, and Denis Douglin.
Morrell is a 27-year-old southpaw who is well known for his amateur exploits as he reportedly compiled a 130-2 record and captured gold medals at the 2016 Youth World Championships, the 2017 Cuban National Championships and the India Open International Boxing Tournament in 2018 in the light heavyweight division. Morrell made his pro debut in August, 2019 when he stopped Yendris Rodriguez Valdez in just 65 seconds and has boxed just 54 rounds since.
He stopped Quinton Rankin in the second round three months later before beating Lennox Allen by unanimous decision for the interim title. He’s defended it by stopping Mike Gavronski in the third round and Mario Cazares in the first round before before halting Alantez Fox and Kalvin Henderson in four, Aidos Yerbossynuly in 12, Yamaguchi Falcao in 142 seconds and Sena Agbeko in two rounds before going the distance with Kalajdzic in his last outing. Morrell now stands at a perfect 11-0 with 9 Ko’s.
It’s obvious that he also has excellent power in his punches as he boasts a current knockout ratio of 81.8 per cent but he hasn’t taken on any elite top-ranked opponents as of yet. Morrell also has good size as he stands 6-feet-1-inch tall with a reach of 78.5 inches, so gives up an inch in height to Benavidez but has a four-inch edge in reach. Like most Cuban national champions, Morrell is a polished boxer with plenty of skills to accompany his power.
Prediction…
Benavidez is a powerful slugger with a lot energy and aggression while Morrell combines speed with power and superior boxing skills. However, Gvozdyk, Demetrius Andrade and Caleb Plant were also better boxers than Benavidez but he made sure he threw enough leather to beat them. Benavidez won’t outbox Morrell so needs to to stick to what he’s been successful at so far, which is to simply overwhelm his opponents with heavy artillery. He needs to work his way inside though and is going to get tagged numerous times so his chin definitely needs to hold out. Nobody has to tell Benavidez to let his hands go as it comes naturally to him but he could be surprised by Morrell’s speed and power. Neither boxer looked particularly sharp in their last outing but if they decide to go at it this weekend it has the potential to be a candidate for fight of the year. But it could also end up being a bit of a chess match due to respect for each other’s power. This battle could go either way and a draw is also possible. I give the slight edge to Benavidez though as he’s naturally a bit more aggressive.
I’ll go with the more aggressive Benavidez.
Play Benavidez -205 @ BetOnline.ag
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David Benavidez betting • David Morrell betting