David Benavidez co-stars in a light-heavyweight banger against Cuban David Morrell this February. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez has given his verdict on the fight.
Benavidez had been chasing a fight with Canelo at super-middleweight for some time before deciding that he must push on with his campaign, moving up to the 175 pounds ranks.
With a debut points win under his belt against former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk, the 28-year-old signed to face Morrell, one of the most dangerous contenders at 168 before also moving up in weight. Morrell, who is undefeated in 11 with nine knockouts, also ended a stoppage streak in his first fight at light-heavy, beating Radivoje Kalajdzic over twelve.
Despite going into the bout a clear favourite, Canelo said when asked by IFL TV that it is “a 50/50 fight.”
“It’s gonna be a good fight. 50/50 fight.”
The fight – already with bad blood – will be for Morrell’s Regular WBA belt as well as Benavidez’ WBC Interim Title, meaning the winner should be first in line to face either undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev or Dmitry Bivol, depending who wins their rematch later that month.
Benavidez has said in the past that he is still keen on the Canelo bout but can’t see himself moving back down to super-middleweight. One way he believes he can finally entice the Mexican into fighting is to win belts at 175 for some bargaining power. Canelo has moved up to the division twice, first defeating Sergey Kovalev but losing to Bivol in his second effort.
