Radivoje Kalajdzic: Composure key for Morel to defeat Benavidez
Light heavyweight contender Radivoje Kalajdzic says the key to David Morrell defeating David Benavidez is to stay “composed” through the first six to eight rounds in their headline clash at 175 on Saturday, February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
On Saturday, Benavidez vs. Morrell is live on PBC on Prime Video PPV. Morrell’s WBA “regular” heavyweight title will be on the line, and Benavidez will have the interim WBC 175-pound belt on the line. The World Boxing Council has already decided that the winner of Benavidez-Morrell will be mandatory for Artur Beterbiev’s belt.
Radivoje Morrell (11-0, 9 KOS) fought on August 3 in Los Angeles last year and knows what he can do against Benavidez. It indicates that Benavidez was fighting ““Younger buddies” His entire career, campaigns at 168 instead of 175. That’s why the “Mexican Monster” Benavidez is rated “bully weight”, “ Like other fighters of this number, he achieved well. However, when Benavidez finally moved up to 175, Average looked explosive.
When Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOS) moved on against 37-year-old WBC lightweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 last year, it didn’t hurt too badly because the former champion wasn’t holding his shots. He was pushing them.
On Saturday, it will be the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year career that he faces a guy who will beat him to the punch. Radivoje is interested to see how Benavidez handles Morrell’s size and power.
The Serbian-born Radivojoe (29-3, 21 KOS) punches harder than Benavidez, and Morel handled his power well in winning a 12-round decision.
Morel strategy
“If he can stay composed and calm through the first six to eight rounds, because Benavidez, all he has and all he does is pressure. Eventually he will slow down. Take shots, choose your shots, move because he can connect,” Radivoje Kalajdzic said. YSM Sports Media On how David Morrell can defeat David Benavidez on Saturday night, February 1st.
“Don’t be the aggressor. I think he can pull it off, but it’s going to be a close fight overall,” Radivoje continued of the Benavidez vs. Morrell.
David Benavidez has been fighting smaller guys his entire career. He was always the bigger man, then when he fought [Oleksandr] Gvozdyk, Gvozdyk wasn’t really even going to punch this hard. So, I don’t know. This will be the first test. We’ll see how Benavidez gets hurt, or will Morrell walk away? Radivoji said.
Benavidez will try to go after Morrell because that’s what he always fights and the style of his father, Jose Benavidez Jr. , teaches him; However, as we saw last Saturday night with Jose Junior’s fighter, Omar Salcedo, in his one-sided loss to the Cuban Andy CruzThis high-pressure style does not work against talented fighters.
Benavidez will get a lot out of Morel, and he could get a boxing lesson from him in this contest. The way Benavidez fights is exactly how Cruz defeated Salcido: Jab, Potshot, Move, and Attack.
Cruz waited until the second half to start pressuring Salcedo, and it was one-sided. Cuban Morrell could do the same because Benavidez is more dirty and trashy than Salcido. Benavidez makes him look like a premier boxer by comparison.
Untested water
“This will be a big test for both of them. I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know how.” [Benavidez] He interacts with men with his punching size. “How boxing fans will see how Benavidez will react to fighting the big Morrell on equal terms,” Radivoje said about how boxing fans will see how Benavidez will react to fighting the big Morrell.
This will be an interesting test, as it shows how good Bensedez is against the first puncher of his 12-year career. As Radivoje pointed out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk wasn’t punching that hard. He was mainly pushing punches, and it seemed like he was trying to conserve energy to keep gases.
When Gvozdyk started loading up on his shots late in the fight, he gave Benavidez massive problems and took control in the later rounds. By then, it was like that for Gvozdyk, and he couldn’t pull out the victory because he had given away too many rounds by throwing partial power.
In the 12th, Gvozdyk Benavidez was hurt with a right body shot thrown straight down the pipe. That punch took the wind out of Benavidez, as he didn’t throw any punches for the rest of the round after taking that shot to the breadbasket.
