Light heavyweight contender Radivoje Kalajdzic says the key to David Morrell defeating David Benavidez is to stay “composed” during the first six to eight rounds in their headliner clash at 175 this Saturday, February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
This Saturday, Benavidez vs. Morrell will be shown live on PBC on Prime Video PPV. Morrell’s WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight title will be at stake, and Benavidez will have his WBC interim 175-lb belt on the line. The World Boxing Council has already determined the Benavidez-Morrell winner will be mandatory for Artur Beterbiev’s belt.
Radivoje fought Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) on August 3rd in Los Angeles last year and knows what he can do against Benavidez. He notes that Benavidez has been fighting “smaller guys” his entire career, campaigning at 168 rather than 175. That’s why ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez has been labeled a ‘weight bully,’ like other fighters of that ilk, he’s done well. However, when Benavidez finally moved to 175, he looked bang average.
When Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) moved up against 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15th last year, he wasn’t getting hit hard because the former champion wasn’t loading up on his shots. He was pushing them.
On Saturday, this will be the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year career that he’s facing a guy his size who will be hitting him hard. Radivoje is interested in seeing how Benavidez deals with Morrell’s size and power.
The Serbian-born Radivojoe (29-3, 21 KOs) punches harder than Benavidez, and Morrell took his power well in winning a 12-round decision.
Morrell’s Strategy
“If he can stay composed and stay calm during the first six to eight rounds, because Benavidez, all he has and all he does is pressure. He eventually will slow down. So, stay composed, pick your shots, and move because he can box,” said Radivoje Kalajdzic to YSM Sports Media about how David Morrell can defeat David Benavidez this Saturday night on February 1st.
“Don’t be the aggressor. I think he can pull it off, but it’s going to be a close fight overall,” Radivoje continued about the Benavidez vs. Morrell contest.
“David Benavidez has been fighting smaller guys his whole career. He’s always been the bigger guy, then when he fought [Oleksandr] Gvozdyk, Gvozdyk wasn’t really even punching that hard. So, I don’t know. This will be the first test. We’ll see how will Benavidez get hurt, or will he just walk Morrell down?” said Radivoje.
Benavidez will try to walk Morrell down because that’s how he’s always fought and the style his father, Jose Benavidez Jr., teaches; however, as we saw last Saturday night with Jose Jr’s fighter, Omar Salcido, in his one-sided loss to Cuban Andy Cruz, that high-pressure style doesn’t work against talented fighters.
Benavidez will get hit a lot by Morrell, and he could get a boxing lesson from him in this contest. The way to fight Benavidez is exactly how Cruz defeated Salcido: Jab, potshot, move, and attack.
Cruz waited until the second half to start pressuring Salcido, and it was one-sided. The Cuban Morrell can do the same thing because Benavidez is even more sloppy and wreckless than Salcido. Benavidez makes him look like a master boxer in comparison.
Untested Waters
“This will be a big test for both of them. I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know how he [Benavidez] reacts to guys his size punching back. So, we’ll see,” said Radivoje about how boxing fans will see how Benavidez reacts to fight the equally big Morrell.
This will be an interesting test, showing how well Benavidez can hold up against his first big puncher in his 12-year career. As Radivoje pointed out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk wasn’t punching that hard. He mainly was pushing his punches, looking like he was trying to conserve energy to keep from gassing.
When Gvozdyk started loading up on his shots late in the fight, he gave Benavidez massive problems and took control over the later rounds. By then, it was too for Gvozdyk, and he couldn’t pull out the victory because he’d given away too many rounds by throwing with partial power.
In the 12th, Gvozdyk hurt Benavidez with a right-hand body shot throw straight down the pipe. That punch knocked the wind out of Benavidez, as he threw no punches for the remainder of the round after taking that shot to the bread basket.
