R eplay made it obvious to everyone except the Nevada State Athletic Commission officials at ringside that David Benavidez’s left leg got tangled with David Morrell Jr.’s right leg in the 11th round of their light heavyweight fight on February 1 at T-Mobile Arena. In real time, Thomas Taylor called it a knockdown for Morrell after Benavidez fell to the canvas. It was an honest mistake that understandably occurs sometimes when even the most effective referees are positioned on the opposite side of what he or she needs to see. For reasons unclear to anyone with working eyes, that mistake was upheld between the 11th and 12th rounds of a competitive, entertaining battle between two terrific unbeaten contenders in their physical primes. Benavidez didn’t get tripped up by embracing a high-risk, low-reward endeavor that most ascending fighters would have avoided, however. A few minutes later, ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. verified that Benavidez had beaten Morrell in their 12-round, 175-pound bout – undoubtedly the most arduous assignment of the Phoenix native’s 11- year, 30-fight pro career – by at least four points, according to judges Tim Cheatham (118-108), Patricia Morse Jarman (115-111) and Steve Weisfeld (115-111). Cheatham credited Benavidez for winning 11 of 12 rounds. The Ring’s No. 2 contender in the light heavyweight division acknowledged that their back-and-forth fight was closer than that. “He hits harder than everybody I’ve faced … he’s a good fighter,” Benavidez said. “But I think just my experience alone, I’ve seen so much different styles. You know, I’ve seen Caleb Plant, Demetrius Andrade, [Oleksandr] Gvozdyk, Anthony Dirrell. So, I mean, I’m just getting better and better. But the dude was good. He fucking brought
SLOW-COOKED SUPERFIGHT
it until the 12th round … I just showed what level I’m on.” The 28-year-old Benavidez’s underrated defensive skills enabled him to block some of Morrell’s harder shots with his gloves. He remained mindful, however, that the Cuban southpaw was dangerous right up until the final bell. Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) seemed to affect Benavidez most with the right hook he landed long after the bell sounded to end the 11th round. That flagrant foul, an instinctual response to Benavidez hitting him late also, cost Morrell the point he gained by recording the aforementioned knockdown. Neither fighter faulted the other for what transpired after the bell rang following the 11th round. They instead exhibited mutual respect that “I’m just getting better and better ... I just showed what level I’m on.” was absent during the boorish buildup to Premier Boxing Champions’ Prime Video pay-per-view main event. Seven weeks after Morrell threw his secondary WBA belt at Benavidez during a skirmish at a press event in Miami, Benavidez gave that belt back to him during their post-fight press conference. Sanctioning organizations generally allow ex-champions to keep their belts and send newly crowned champions their own in the weeks or months following a title victory. “I knew it was gonna be a hard fight,” Benavidez said. “That’s why I trained extremely hard. You know, we were talking a lotta shit. But at the end of the day ... we sold the shit out of the fight. You know, a lotta people wanted to see [it]. A lotta people bought pay- per-view. And it was a great fight. … I
don’t know what percentage I landed at, but I landed a lot, you know, against a great fighter.” In fact, Benavidez landed 224 of 553 punches overall (40.5%), 59 more than Morrell (165 of 601), according to CompuBox’s unofficial statistics. CompuBox counted more power punches (181 of 378 to 136 of 423) and more jabs (43 of 175 to 29 of 178) for Benavidez, who learned during 12-round unanimous decision victories over Plant, Andrade and Gvozdyk how to properly pace himself by taking a more measured approach. “Forty-one?” Benavidez asked of his overall connect percentage. “Pretty good – that’s really good. And I don’t think I got hit that much, either.” Overcoming Morrell made Benavidez the WBA and WBC’s mandatory challenger for the immediate rematch between Ring Magazine light heavyweight champ Artur Beterbiev and former WBA titleholder Dmitry Bivol on February 22 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Russian-born, Montreal- based Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) is scheduled to defend his full collection of 175-pound titles versus Bivol (23-1, 12 KOs). Beterbiev beat Bivol, a longtime resident of Russia, by majority decision on October 12 at Kingdom Arena to become the first undisputed light heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. Turki Alalshikh, owner of The Ring and chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, invited Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) to sit ringside for the stacked seven-fight pay-per-view show headlined by Beterbiev-Bivol. “I definitely would love to go,” Benavidez said. “You know, I would love to fight those guys. That’s what I’m
A sustained and pulverizing body attack was a key part of the Benavidez offense in Las Vegas
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