Trainer Kenny Ellis believes David Benavidez will “overwhelm” David Morrell with volume and wear him down in the later rounds. Ellis believes Benavidez will become more formidable as the rounds go on.
WBC interim light heavyweight champion Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and WBA ‘regular’ champion Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) meet in 15 days on PBC on Prime Video PPV on February 1st at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Ellis predicts Benavidez won’t take as long to figure out Morrell as Caleb Plant because he’s a better boxer. Plant looked too small in the ring compared to the much bigger, lighter, heavyweight size Benavidez and he didn’t have the power to make him come back.
Morrell’s power
“As long as Morrell’s belt didn’t hit Benavidez. Those belts are extremely heavy and can cause an extreme laceration if they hit you right and that would have put the whole damn fight off,” trainer Kenny Ellis told MillCity Boxing, where he talked about David Morrell throwing his WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight belt at David Benavidez after being pushed by him during their face-off at the media training in Miami on the 17th. december
“In that fight, David Morrell has that single-punch knockout power where he can catch and he can catch Benavidez. I just think ‘The Mexican Monster’ is going to overwhelm him with everything. He’s going to break him down because the Mexican monster is getting stronger and stronger as the rounds go by.
“He’s got a good punch himself, but I can’t see Morrell outboxing him because he won’t have the space to set it up. He won’t have that break between punches to set it up, because once the Mexican monster gets going. he will keep you uncomfortable. He won’t let you set anything up,” Ellis said.
Benavidez pushed Morrell to the media training so he threw his belt at him. It wasn’t like Morrell threw his belt away for no reason. He did it because Benavidez pushed him hard when he refused to shake his hand.
Morrell can box, but he will be forced to go to war with Benavidez because he will stalk him around the ring. That could work in Morrell’s favor because he likes to move and then stop to throw hard punches at his oncoming opponents. He catches them as they go forward. If he hits Benavidez with a hard shot, he can knock him out.
“It’s a possibility,” Ellis said when asked if Morrell can hit Benavidez so hard that his punch volume isn’t as high as it usually is because he’ll be afraid of getting hit by the Cuban. “Anything can happen, but I’m rockin’ the Mexican monster.”
It’s doubtful that Benavidez will change his normal approach of burying his opponents with activity if Morrell hits him hard. If he focuses on throwing to the head of ‘The Mexican Monster’, it won’t work because he has excellent impact resistance. However, I had never seen Benavidez get hit much by a fighter with elite strength.
Oleksandr Gvozdyk had great power, but he didn’t throw enough hard punches. He mostly pushed his shots, tried not to tire and focused on boxing. That style allowed Benavidez to build a huge lead through eight rounds. It was too late when Gvozdyk finally got on the court in the championship rounds and he needed a knockout. That’s the only real puncher Benavidez has fought besides David Lemieux, who was old and over the hill when they fought.
“I like Morrell though. I think [Caleb] Plant is a better boxer than Morrell. I don’t think it’s going to take that long for Benavidez to figure him out and back him up and do what he does. At the same time, Morrell has gained the one-punch power that can change things and slow things down. But I rock ‘The Mexican Monster,’ Ellis said.
Caleb Plant tried to fight Benavidez on the inside, and took a lot of punishment in the second half of the fight. Early on, Caleb did well, getting the better of him through the fifth. Morrell isn’t going to fight Benavidez on the inside, but if he does, he showed in his fight against Hot Rod that he has formidable power on the inside.
