Tuesday’s public workout almost turned into a brawl: David Benavidez and David Morrell, who will clash on February 1st in a highly anticipated bout at light heavyweight, made no effort to hide their animosity and nearly came to blows. After a forceful shove by Benavidez, Morrell attempted to hit his future opponent with his WBA Interim belt before their respective teams intervened to separate the two athletes.
David Benavidez himself explained the dynamics of the altercation in an interview with ProBox TV:
“I came over with all respect, it’s my birthday, so I tried to be a little more calm, I tried to shake his hand, he didn’t want to shake my hand, he told me he was going to mess me up, and I got mad, so I pushed him. That kind of shows what the temperature it is, how the fight is heating up. He doesn’t like me. I don’t like him. The ones who are going to end up winning are the fans, because we’re going to go to war in there.
“The thing that bothered me afterwards was he came after the press conference and shook my hand, so that’s why I tried to shake his hand here. I tried to be cool. But I guess when all these people are around, he thinks he’s hard and he thinks he’s somebody he’s not, but when he’s by himself he knows he can’t mess with me.
“It’s going to be a war. I’m 100 per cent ready for this fight, I know David Morrell’s going to come ready for this fight but I’m going to inflict as much damage as possible on David Morrell and I will leave with my hand raised and with two belts that night.”
The winner of the fight will most likely have the opportunity to face the unified light heavyweight champion that emerges from the highly anticipated February 22nd rematch between Russian fighters Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol, a prospect that doesn’t intimidate Benavidez at all:
“I’m ready for whoever,” said Benavidez. “I feel at this point I’m in the best moment of my life, mentally and physically and emotionally and I’m ready for anybody, whoever, whenever.”
Both Benavidez and Morrell faced some criticism following their respective debuts in the 175-pound division. The two fighters, who were used to dominating their opponents in the super middleweight category, could only secure decision wins in their first tests in the new weight class.
Benavidez decisively defeated former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk in a match where the American fighter slowed down in the later rounds after dominating three-quarters of the fight.
Morrell, on the other hand, overcame tough Serbian boxer Radivoje Kalajdzic in a low-paced bout that some observers found more competitive than the official judges’ scorecards suggested.
In just over a month, we’ll find out which of David Benavidez and David Morrell will prove to be the most worthy and credible challenger for the world titles.