Boxing

David Benavidez Ready For Winner of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2

David Benavidez has his sights set on fighting for the undisputed belt at light heavyweight.

Nathaniel Marrero

David Benavidez lands a left hook through the guard of David Morrell.
David Benavidez lands a left hook through the guard of David Morrell. / IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

David Benavidez earned arguably the biggest win of his career with his unanimous decision victory over the previously undefeated David Morrell.

With the win, Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) is now the WBC interim and WBA regular light heavyweight champion. As a result, he's now set to be enforced as the mandatory challenger by the WBC for the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2, which takes place on Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia.

After the grueling camp he had in preparation for Morrell, Benavidez is focused on taking time off, but he's ready to fight for all of the belts at light heavyweight.

"I'd definitely love to go," Benavidez said in the post-fight press conference. "I'm just thinking about taking a break. I've been training for four and a half months preparing for this fight. I would love to go over there and I would love to fight. That's what I'm here for. I feel like every fight that I take is going to be the hardest fight ever until the next fight. That's how it should be because we're going up in competition. We're going up against the best of the best."

Benavidez vs. Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) was an all-action affair from the opening bell. After the fight was close through the first four rounds, which included Morrell momentarily rocking Benavidez with a right hook in the fourth round, Benavidez's experience, pressure, and ability to overwhelm the Cuban southpaw with his volume and combination punching allowed him to seize control in the second half.

Morrell had a chance to stage a late rally after a right hook that was more like a push to an off-balanced Benavidez led to his glove touching the canvas and was ruled a knockdown by referee Thomas Taylor. The action picked up after the knockdown and the potential 10-8 round for Morrell was nullified after he landed a flush right hook on Benavidez's chin well after the bell rang which led to him getting a point deducted.

Benavidez went on to win 118-108 on Tim Cheatham's scorecard and 115-111 on Patricia Morse Jarman and Steve Weisfeld's scorecards. With the win, he's now the WBC interim and WBA regular light heavyweight champion.

"If you look at my track record, now, I have a really good resume," Benavidez said. "So every fighter I'm going up against is better than the last one. I'm happy I'm able to show what level I'm on and I'm happy to continue to progress in my career."

Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) won the first bout vs. Bivol (23-1, 12KOs) by majority decision to become the undisputed light heavyweight champion. If Bivol were to get his revenge in the rematch, a third bout between the two would appear to be the most likely scenario, which would leave Benavidez in a tough spot in his pursuit to become a unified or undisputed champion at light heavyweight.

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Nathaniel Marrero
NATHANIEL MARRERO

Nathaniel Marrero is a writer for the Boxing, Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Ravens On SI sites. He's also written for the Orlando Sentinel and MLB.com, and was a part of UCF's sports show, Hitting The Field. He attended UCF and graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 2023. Twitter/X: Nate_Marrero