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The battle of the David’s has arrived with the announcement of David Benavidez vs David Morrell Jr. This bout and the rest of the card was announced by the PBC on social media. The fight will take place February 1st 2025 at the T-Mobile Arena and is available on pay per view on Prime Video. It looks to be a very good card and has a great main event.
Benavidez And Morrell
David Benavidez is a name many boxers and boxing fans have heard of and for good reason. Benavidez is a monster with his huge size, relentless pace, and fast hands. As a result he went on an absolute tear through the super middleweight division. He scored notable wins over Anthony Dirrell, David Lemieux, Caleb Plant, and Demetrious Andrade all former champions. He stopped all of those fighters except Caleb Plant who survived the beating to the final bell.
After this tear Benavidez would find himself as mandatory for the WBC belt held by Canelo Alvarez. However, the WBC did not enforce this mandatory and Canelo was not interested ducking Benavidez. Growing impatient Benavidez instead decided to try his hand at light heavyweight moving up. He would fight former champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk and would win dominantly. Benavidez looked great as ever however seemed to tire later in the fight. Regardless this win immediately gave Benavidez a great standing in a relatively thin division.
David Morrell Jr is a name not as well known but should be. Morrell is a Cuban southpaw who unlike most Cuban fighters fights aggressive. He is also marked out by being a Cuban who did not spend a massive amount of time in the amateurs. He still has an extensive amateur record however turned pro quite young and is only 26.
Morrell did not beat the same notable names at super middleweight however would end with the WBA regular belt. This made him Canelo’s WBA mandatory. However, with Canelo being reluctant to fight him he moved up to light heavyweight. Morrell fought Radivoje Kalajdzic winning comprehensively but struggled with the crafty veteran unable to get a finish.
Benavidez vs Morrell
Before both men moved up Morrell was calling for Benavidez and now the fight is finally here. Stylistically this match up is bound to be fireworks. Benavidez’s come forward, pressure heavy, high output style makes every fight of his entertaining. That combined with Morrell’s aggressive style is bound to match up well to create and action packed fight.
Outside of that these 2 have a rivalry that has only grown since the fight was made. Back at super-middleweight Morrell was calling for the Benavidez fight while Benavidez was pursuing the Canelo fight. And now that they’re both at light heavyweight the fight is now happening. The pair have also started clashing at media for this fight with them going back and forth at a photo shoot and press conference. Now doubt that will fuel both of these young contenders.
A victory for either main guarantees a crack at the WBA and WBC belts. Currently Artur Beterbiev is the undisputed champion at light heavyweight holding all of the belts. So the winner of this fight will more than likely get a shot at Beterbiev. And if the potential to get a shot at undisputed won’t bring the will to win nothing will.
The Undercard
The undercard for this show is also looking good. Brandon Figueroa will be defending his WBC world title at featherweight against Stephen Fulton in a rematch 4 years in the making. Figueroa was a former world champion at super bantamweight defeating one Naoya Inoue’s recent victims Luis Nery to gain the WBC title. He would then lose it in his first defence to slick boxer Stephen Fulton. Following the loss he moved to featherweight with great success becoming interim and then full WBC champion.
Fulton did not have a long reign after one successful defence he would encounter Inoue who relieved him of his belts with ease. Fulton would then move up and have a shaky first fight. This should be a fun rematch with Figueroa improving since their last fight and becoming more experienced.
Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz will fight Angel Fierro in what should be a fun fight. This will be Cruz’s first fight after losing his super lightweight WBA title and Cruz will look to remind the division of how dangerous he can be. Cruz always brings the heat with his heavy pressure style. And his opponent young up and comer Fierro will bring the heat.
Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr will fight Jeison Rosario at super welterweight. Ramos Jr is a young southpaw rising contender who has a notable win over Brian Mendoza. Rosario is a former world champion at super welterweight who has recently been campaigning at middleweight and above with mixed results. He picked up some wins however lost Brian Mendoza. Interestingly both men have lost to Erickson Lubin a former world title challenger.
Overall, this card looks to deliver and with the main event as good as it is entertainment is guaranteed. On top of that all of these fights will have big implications for the future of each respective division.
