Does Benavidez collapse under pressure? Morrell exposes pre-fight jitters

David Morrell says ”Mexican Monster’ David Benavidez shouldn’t be “scared” and make pre-fight excuses ahead of their Feb. 1 light heavyweight bout. Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) talked about his concerns about Morrell’s VADA tests.

Desperate measures

Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) takes on interim WBC 175-pound champion Benavidez cooked a PED excuse to give his fans the explanation of “what went wrong” after losing the match. If he tells fans he thought Morrell, 26, was dirty, they will be understanding and not abandon him en masse.

Without an excuse to justify the defeat, the fans will throw themselves into the sea from the sinking Benavidez ship rats leaving a sinking ship on the high seas. It may be impossible for him to bring them back unless he makes an excuse that they will believe.

Many were willing to give Benavidez a pass for his last fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk when he said he was struggling with injuries. No x-rays were shown to verify the injuries, but fans still believed him because this was the first time.

Hopefully, Benavidez will show class if he loses, rather than talking about his suspicions without any supporting information to prove them.

Cuban Morrell says Benanavidez has fought guys who weren’t at his level his entire career, but now that he’s facing someone at his level, he’s scared and talks about PEDs to soften the blow if he gets beaten.

Benavidez’s insecurity

“He shouldn’t be afraid. All his life he fought fighters who were not at his level. This is what happens when they are afraid. They start using excuses everywhere,” David Morrell told Sean Zittel, responding to talk of VADA testing ahead of their Feb. 1 fight.

This is the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year pro career that he’s fought anyone in a 50-50 fight, and it’s amazing how he stooped to this level to spark talk of PEDs. Is it a mind game for Benavidez to gain a much-needed advantage against the younger, faster, stronger and more talented Morrell?

You can totally understand why Benavidez would be worried about this fight. If he loses, his dreams of a megamillion dollar fight against the Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 rematch will be lost, and he will never get the chance to fight Canelo Alvarez either. He would just be one of the contenders at 175, fighting in the salt mines, not making a lot of money.