Light heavyweight contender Radivoj Kalajdzic says the key to David Morrell’s win over David Benavidez is to stay “cohesive” through the first six to eight rounds in their main event bout at 175 on Saturday, Feb. 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Radivoje fought Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) on August 3 in Los Angeles last year and knows what he can do against Benavidez. He points out that Benavidez has been fighting “smaller guys” his entire career, campaigning at 168 instead of 175.
When Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) came up against 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15 last year, he didn’t get hit hard because the former champion wasn’t loading his shots. . He was pushing them.
On Saturday, it will be the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year career that he faces a man his size who is going to hit him hard. Radivoje is interested to see how Benavidez handles Morrell’s size and power.
Serbian-born Radivojoy (29-3, 21 KOs) is a harder puncher than Benavidez, and Morel put his strength to good use in winning a 12-round decision.
Morel strategy
“If he can maintain his composure and calm during the first six to eight rounds, because Benavidez, all he has and all he does is pressure. He will eventually slow down,” Radivoj Kalajdzic said. “So, keep your composure, and choose your shots.” “And he moved because he could box.” 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,” Radivoye continued about the Benavidez vs. Morel contest.
“David Benavidez has been fighting smaller guys his whole career. He’s always been the bigger guy, and when he fought (Olexandr) Gvozdyk, Gvozdyk wasn’t really hitting that hard. So, I don’t know. And this will be the first test. We’ll see how Benavidez gets hurt, um.” That he would just crush Morell?
Benavidez will try to beat Morel because this is the way he has always fought and the style 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 take a lot of beating from Morell, and could get a boxing lesson from him in this contest. The way Benavidez fights is exactly the way Cruz defeated Salcedo: knockout, shooting, moving, attacking.
Cruz waited until the second half to start pressuring Salcedo, and it was one-sided. Cuban Morell can do the same because Benavidez is more careless and reckless than Salcedo. Benavidez makes him look like a professional 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) reacts to guys that attack him with his size. We’ll see,” Radifuji said about how boxing fans will see how Benavidez reacts to fighting the equally big Morel.
This will be an interesting test, as it will show how well Benavidez can withstand his first big punch of his 12-year career. As Radivoj pointed out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk wasn’t hitting that hard. He was basically throwing punches, apparently trying to conserve energy to avoid being gassed.
When Gvozdyk started loading up his shots late in the fight, he caused Benavidez enormous problems and dominated the later rounds. By then, so was Gvozdyk, and he couldn’t get the victory because he wasted too many rounds by throwing with partial power.
In the 12th, Gvozdik hurt Benavidez with a right body shot straight down the pipe. That punch knocked the wind out of Benavidez, as he didn’t land any punches for the rest of the round after landing that breadbasket shot.
