Demetrius Andrade questions whether WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell has long enough arms to get around David Benavidez’s guard when they meet on February 1st at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Benavidez’s reach
Andrade had trouble landing his shots through Benavidez’s guard due to his long arms in their fight last year and was eventually stopped in the sixth round. He was surprised by the sheer size of Benavidez and he was too big for him.
The Cuban Morrell has a much longer reach than Benavidez, at 78″ compared to his 74″, so he shouldn’t have the same problems that Andrade did. Demetrius started his pro career at 154 and moved up to 168 in 2023. He had only fought once in the weight class against Demond Nicholson before facing Benavidez.
Benavidez’s reach, weight and youth seemed to give Andrade problems. He looked much heavier, like a light heavyweight or cruiserweight fighting a middleweight.
“Because he was a big, strong guy, he was able to absorb it. He weighed a lot more than me,” Demetrius Andrade told Fight Hub TV about his loss to David Benavidez on November 25, 2023.
“After that fight [Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk at 175]he said, ‘I can still make 168,’ because he felt the weight difference. He [Benavidez] couldn’t do what he can do when he’s not a weight bully.
“Now he’s in a good fight against David Morrell. They’re two guys the same size. I think David Morrell is talented. I don’t know if he has the experience to actually beat David. [Morrell] is a big kid. He’s got good speed, but he’s a bit wild with his punches. Of course, that comes with experience.”
Benavidez didn’t look good in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last summer on June 15 and was outmatched throughout the fight by the stronger fighter. His power looked weak on the scale and he was lucky to get the decision. If Gvozdyk had been a more popular fighter, he would have gotten the win because he landed the better shots.
Can Morrell adapt?
“David [Benavidez] has long arms. Morrell is bigger than me,” Andrade said. “When you hit him [Benavidez]his arms are so long that it is difficult to hit him. You have to aim your shots at him. I don’t know if Morrell has it in him.
“I’m a sharpshooter and David was able, with his length, to block a lot of my shots. So you have to set him up with some clean walking trap shots,” Andrade said