Benavidez: “Morrell tried to hurt me with his belt!”

David Benavidez believes David Morrell was trying to hurt him to get out of their fight when he threw the heavy WBA light heavyweight belt at him after shoving him during their face-off on December 17 in Miami. Benavidez seems paranoid about the injury scenario he has formulated.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) became angry when Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) refused to shake his hand. So, to deal with his embarrassment and anger, he showed Morrell, who reacted by throwing the WBA belt at him. The belt nearly hit Benavidez in the head. He interpreted that move by Morrell as if he was trying to escape the fight by injuring him.

You could look at it the other way. Benavidez was the one who tried to wriggle out of the fight by pushing Morrell, hoping he would punch him in the face in retaliation. It was Benavidez who started the push. What did you expect Morrell to do?

Was Morrell afraid?

“I really want to beat up Morrell, and that’s exactly what I intend to do,” David Benavidez told Fighthype, still complaining that David Morrell didn’t want to shake his hand during their media workout.

“As far as I’m concerned, I already know he’s scared of me 100% because he’s already looking for a way out. Who throws belts in someone’s face? That’s a heavy belt, bro,” Benavidez said of Morrell throwing the WBA world title belt to him during their face-off after he was shoved hard without warning.

“For me, throwing that belt in your face, I know in my mind I’m going to hit you and the fight is going to be canceled because you’re going to get cut. That’s exactly what he did. He also aimed at my head. He didn’t try to miss,” Benavidez said.

Benavidez started

There would have been no problem if Benavidez had controlled his violent instincts when Morrell wouldn’t shake his hand. Does he spend his life pushing everyone when they don’t want to shake his hand?

“From the first press conference when we had the fight, I sensed the fear in him,” Benavidez said of Morrell. “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and the same thing with this. I said, “Be careful what you ask for because I might be there to give it to you.”

“This makes the fight better. I did all this. I pushed him. I did the press conference and now many more people are interested in this fight. They should be because it’s going to be a good fight. David Morrell is a good fighter. I’m a great fighter.

Will Morrell commit?

“We’ll go to war, and if he really does what he says, he’ll stay there and fight me. I don’t think he will. I’m 100% ready to go there and do it. I’m going to hurt that guy as much as I can,” Benavidez said.

It may not work in Benavidez’s favor to go toe-to-toe with a great boxer like Morrell because he hits much harder and will take advantage of all the shots he tends to throw.

Benavidez’s punch volume worked for him at 168 against the smaller, older and weaker fighters he was matched against. But at 175 he will have to reinvent himself if he doesn’t want his career to implode, starting with the meeting with Morrell.