Light Heavyweight Showdown
Last night’s PBC/PPV Prime Video Main Event between WBC Interim Light Heavyweight Champion David Benavidez (30-0, 24 Kos) and WBA “Regular” Light Heavyweight Champion David Morrell (11-1, 9 Kos) was a very entertaining bout from start to finish that lived up to the “HYPE” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Both combatants wasted no time with the introduction once the first bell rang and proceeded to throw mad leather to feel each other’s power right from the jump. Two very big and strong combatants with different skill sets trying to earn each other’s respect inside that squared circle.
Morell showed power, intelligence and durability and a different type of resistance that Benavidez wasn’t used to dealing with inside that squared circle but what Morell lacked was the professional experience to deter a strong and active warrior with Benavidez’s experience.
Morell found out that going toe-to-toe with the “Mexican Monster” wasn’t the brightest idea. Benavidez’s punch output was key last night. Morell had a hard time keeping up punch for punch with Benavidez as the rounds progressed. Although Morell had his moments and made it a lot tougher on Benavidez, the activity of Benavidez punch connection ratio swayed the rounds in his favor. Those uppercuts and straight body shots landing at will by Benavidez could not be ignored.
That being said, Morell did do good work at times landing some good heavy shots, clearly showing his power and even scored a knock-down with a quick right hook on Benavidez in the 11th round that had the crowd on their feet but surprisingly, the benefit of the knock-down was useless when the referee penalized Morell for hitting after the bell. A suspect call if you ask me.
Benavidez got seriously touched up last night but his offence did a good job at hiding his lack of defence but proved once again that he’s a tough Dude with a higher work rate than most of his opponents inside that squared circle.
That said, after 12 full rounds of action, the Judges at hand scored it 115-111, 115-111 and 118-108 unanimously for David Benavidez. I don’t have a problem with Benavidez being declared the winner but that score of 118-108 is straight out of pocket!
With this solid win now under his belt Benavidez retained his WBC Interim Light Heavyweight Title and snatched the WBA “Regular” Light Heavyweight Championship Title from Morell, giving him an even clearer path to challenge the winner of the Undisputed Light Heavyweight Championship between Undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol on February 22, 2025, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
Until then, congratulations David.
Blaze
