Benavidez Sr.: Son will ‘drown’ Morrell

Trainer Jose Benavidez Sr. says his son, David Benavidez, will take David Morrell into the deep waters and drown him in their fight in 29 days on February 1 on PBC on Prime Video PPV in Las Vegas.

Jose Sr. believes Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) can wear down WBA light heavyweight champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) with body shots and pressure.

Benavidez’s plan

“We don’t know. Everyone’s style is different,” Jose Benavidez Sr. told YSM Sports Media when asked if David Morrell is a tougher opponent for David Benavidez than Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade.

“David Morrell is a great fighter, a very decorated amateur fighter, two-time world champion at 168 and 175. He’s a southpaw. We don’t know [if Morrell is tougher than Plant and Andrade]but for now we are training as if he is the best fighter of our career. We have to think so.

“We cannot underestimate David Morrell. We don’t know how big his heart is. We will take him into deep water and see if he can swim. Otherwise he will drown. The plan is not simply to win the battle. It looks spectacular,” Benavidez Sr. said.

Morrell is much bigger, stronger and younger than Plant and Andrade. So, for Jose Sr. to count on Benavidez doing the same thing to him that he did against those fighters, could be a huge disappointment on February 1st.

“The problem is with all these fighters moving around. They don’t want to get hit. So they are very careful. They use their legs a lot,” said Jose Sr. “I hope David Morrell comes to fight and shows people that he’s the best at 175, and that he’ll finish with a knockout.”

Morrell doesn’t move much. When he moves, he stands facing his opponents. He does not move around the ring but sideways with his upper body. Morrell will be there for Benavidez to exchange blows.

The punches Morrell throws are much harder than those the Mexican monster has fought during his career and may not last long when he starts getting hit by the Cuban.

Aim at the body

“If he’s careful, using his legs and moving, it’s going to take a little bit of time because when you have a fighter moving, it gets a little difficult,” Jose Sr. said. “I’m sure David [Benavidez] it will take advantage of that and start breaking that body and damaging it.

The blows Morrell landed on his last opponent, Radivoje Kalajdzic, on August 3 either wounded Benavidez by knockout or severely injured him until he was defenseless in the face of a subsequent barrage. Morrell hurt Radivoje numerous times during the fight at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

“Hopefully we can get him out of there before the ninth or 10th round,” Benavidez Sr. said.