If there’s anybody on the market nonetheless not bought on David Benavidez and his standing as a reputable modern-day boxing star, I’d like for them to take a stroll to the closest lavatory, stick their head in the bathroom, and flush repeatedly.
Saturday night time at T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas, the 28-year-old Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) confirmed us what an in-his-prime elite-level fighter appears to be like like when he decisioned the previously undefeated David Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) to assert some phony-baloney WBA and WBC common or interim mild heavyweight titles and, extra vital, next-dibs declare to the winner of Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol 2 (extra on that later).
The Benavidez-Morrell conflict, which headlined a reasonably entertaining PBC/Amazon Prime pay-per-view present, showcased the heart and grit and ego you’d anticipate from a bout between proud, younger, undefeated skills with extra future forward of them than previous behind them.Benavidez did what Benavidez does. He utilized strain all through the bout, touchdown huge pictures, but additionally touching with smaller pictures in an offensive combine and a sneaky variation of area, tempo, and placement that makes him onerous to defend towards. He was particularly efficient with the uppercut, which was a little bit of a shock towards a tall, lengthy opponent who might account properly for himself on the skin.
Nevertheless, additionally true to type, Benavidez light late and left open a window of alternative for Morrell, who had appeared a bit outclassed by the late center rounds.
To his credit score, although, Morrell by no means gave up and by no means stopped looking for a solution to win.
The Cuban-born, Miami-residing, Minneapolis-adopted 27-year-old fought bravely and competently, by no means resigning himself to defeat, even within the midst of Benavidez’s brutally finest moments. He by no means conceded something, at any level, and rallied again all through the competition.
Within the eleventh, Morrell would handle to attain a flukish knockdown, however then give that time again after being penalized by referee Thomas Taylor for hitting Benavidez after the bell.
In the end, the purpose deduction wouldn’t matter as scorecard tallies of 115-111 (twice) and 118-108 declared Benavidez the winner by way of unanimous determination.
And now for the long run…
It might have been telling that the post-fight interview carried out on the PBC telecast steered away from mentioning Beterbiev or Bivol straight.
Regardless of being declared subsequent in line for a lightweight heavyweight title shot by the WBC and getting a Ring Journal-publicized first-row invitation by Turki Alalshikh to Beterbiev-Bivol 2 in Saudi Arabia February 22, there nonetheless must be some doubt as as to whether Benavidez-Beterbiev/Bivol occurs subsequent or occurs in any respect.
First, there’s no assure that Bivol gained’t beat Beterbiev and pressure a Riyadh Season rubber match together with his fellow Russian.Second, it doesn’t matter what occurs on February 22, there’s an actual risk that placing collectively a Benavidez-Beterbiev/Bivol bout might hit a brick wall.
At this level, each Russians are just about Saudi home fighters who, one would assume, Turki wish to maintain as in-house expertise. And, except the Saudis are keen to pay Benavidez and firm an obscene sum of money (a risk), it makes no enterprise sense for Benavidez to kill off his standing as a rising bonafide PPV headliner presence by combating the hardest combat of his profession on a stale afternoon present that’ll generate a fraction of the buys/income it might generate if held within the States.
Sorry. Yeah. Boxing remains to be a enterprise, even when some are treating it as a nifty fantasy league interest. Benavidez vs. Beterbiev/Bivol belongs in Las Vegas.
If that huge one occurs, although, there might be some aggressive considerations.
Will Benavidez appear like a boy vs. a person towards both? He’s by no means confronted somebody as stone-mountain sturdy or as imposing as Beterbiev, nor has he confronted anybody as razor-sharp exact and technically good as Bivol. For all his positives, there are additionally some negatives that will level to him struggling in bouts with both.
However that’s why younger fighters come up. It’s the character of the boxing beast for the brand new guard to need to show they’re worthy of greatness by toppling the previous guard. Except you’re in Canelo Alvarez’s world, in fact…
We’ll simply have to attend and see if Beterbiev’s/Bivol’s world isn’t much like Canelo’s. If it IS, we’ve discovered that Benavidez doesn’t essentially want THE belt to placed on good reveals towards significant opposition.
No one (value listening to) would complain all that loud if his run via Demetrius Andrade, Caleb Plant, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, and David Morrell extends via Callum Smith, Anthony Yarde, Joshua Buatsi, and into the cruiserweight division.In an ideal world, Beterbiev beats Bivol and defends his 4 mild heavyweight belts towards Benavidez in a Las Vegas blockbuster (which Benavidez will carry, promotionally). In an ultra-perfect world, Benavidez BEATS Beterbiev– perhaps after Crawford beats Canelo– and we get an anchor on the American scene to maintain the massive fights the place the massive fan base (and precise, actual enterprise income) is.
We’ll see how all this performs out.
For now, I’m completely happy simply basking within the glow of a rattling good combat from a rattling good fighter.
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