Diego Pacheco believes regular WBA light heavyweight champion David Morrell will be David Benavidez’s ‘toughest opponent’ when they meet on February 1 in the main event at T-Mobile Arena from Las Vegas.
Pacheco, a super middleweight contender who trains with Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), predicts he will wear out Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) and come out on top. He compares Morrell to Caleb Plant, which is a strange comparison, and he sees Benavidez starting slow but then moving forward.
The threat of a bullet to the body
If Benavidez gets hit as much by Morrell as he does Plant, he’ll be in trouble in this fight. Morrell’s power is much different from Plant’s, and he will target her weak abdomen to stop her.
Like all fighters, Benavidez has a weak point: taking body shots. Morrell will likely focus on his big Elvis’ late intestine to save a body shot. This is Benavidez’s kryptonite – taking hard hits in his attic.
“David Morrell is a guy you can’t take lightly. He’s up there for a reason, and he’s one of the best Cubans around,” Diego Pacheco told Sean Zittelspeaking about David Morrell, who will face WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez on February 1.
“I feel like David (Benavidez) is a monster. He doesn’t let anyone take it from him. When he gets in there, he wants to kill. Of course, I think Morrell will be his toughest opponent yet, but I still see David coming out on top. He (Morrell) has a good jab, he’s a very good fighter and he keeps his distance very well.
“I have the impression that he will make it difficult for David in the first laps. But as we saw with Caleb Plant, he was doing a good job boxing in the early rounds when he was fighting David. But David has a responsibility to show up. Even in clinches, he still takes hits.
Using Caleb Plant as the reason why Benavidez is going to defeat Morrell doesn’t make a lot of sense. Plant is a smaller, older fighter with no power, and he’s a totally different fighter than the 27-year-old Morrell. Plant was never a puncher and was knocked out by Canelo Alvarez. His style is different from Morrell’s.
“I think when you box a guy like David, and he keeps showing up, no matter what you do, it’s hard to keep the same game plan and stick to it. When you have a monster like him, who throws big punches, punches in bunches, it’s tough,” Pacheco said.
Benavidez’s habit of moving forward earned him numerous headshots against Oleksandr Gvozdyk in their fight last year on June 15. If Gvozdyk had targeted Benavidez’s body, instead of his cement block, he could have scored a save.
When he finally got to Benavidez’s body in the 12th, he hurt him. Benavidez’s weak midsection and the way he leans back in a Fury style leaves his body wide open. Pachecho praised Benavidez’s ability to avoid being hit in the head, saying he ducked.
This is true, but it leaves his abdomen unprotected, which is the only area where he is weak. He may not be able to handle Morrell’s punches to the body or head because he punches harder than anyone he has faced before and is an excellent counter punch.
“His defense is crazy. He stands so straight. He’s really good at fending off blows. With each camp, he improves. He’s learning,” Pacheco said.
Former adversaries
Benavidez’s defense isn’t great. If you watched his last two fights against Oleksandr Gvozdyk and Demetrius Andrade, he was simply moving forward Robocop style, blocking shots with his head, outplaying both of those older fighters. Gvozdyk is 37 years old and Andrade is 36 years old.
Neither man is close to what they were a decade ago. It would be the same if Benavidez was on the wrong side of 30, facing a younger fighter. He wouldn’t do well.
