David Benavidez hits David Morrell throughout a lightweight heavyweight title boxing match Saturday, Feb. 1, … [+]
David Benavidez and David Morrell went to conflict on Saturday evening on the T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. Benavidez prevailed through unanimous determination (115-111×2, 118-108) in some of the action-packed fights you’ll in all probability see in 2025.
Each males had their moments within the struggle, however Benavidez outlanded Morrell in all however two of the rounds. He launched an all-out assault on his opponent’s physique, touchdown greater than twice the punches that Morrell related with in that area. Benavidez was additionally extra correct along with his energy photographs, touchdown 48% of them over the 12 rounds.
Morrell did rating the one knockdown of the struggle. It occurred within the eleventh spherical when he clipped Benavidez with a sweeping proper hand that related whereas the latter was off steadiness.
Benavidez wasn’t harm, nevertheless it nonetheless counted as a authorized knockdown as a result of each of his gloves touched the canvas.
Sadly for Morrell, that time was rapidly negated as he was penalized for touchdown a punch after the bell. The referee was a bit overzealous with that call. Benavidez was the one who initiated the punching after the bell. Morrell’s punch was a response. Nevertheless, it appeared to do extra injury, and the referee’s motion was seemingly primarily based on the cleanness of the punch.
Ultimately, it wouldn’t have mattered. By that point, Morrell was up to now behind on all three judges’ scorecards that the only level wouldn’t have affected the outcome.
After the struggle, a number of individuals from the boxing world took to social media to react to the struggle and reward Benavidez and Morrell’s efforts.
Morrell appeared to have the pace benefit, however Benavidez’s protection, work fee, and punching accuracy proved to be the distinction. Morrell allowed Benavidez to take pleasure in too many lengthy stretches of assault with out worrying about something coming again his method.
Morrell was content material to cowl up, wait his flip, and struggle in brief bursts that have been too few and much between.
That mentioned, Morrell confirmed he has nice coronary heart and an impressive chin. If he takes time to recuperate from this bodily battle, he ought to nonetheless have success within the mild heavyweight division.
Benavidez seemed like a pound-for-pound contender. His mixture of energy photographs, degree adjustments, protection, and ahead strain will give anybody in his weight division an issue. He appears to be like like the best man to problem the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol II, which is scheduled for February 22 for the undisputed title at 175 kilos.
At this level in Benavidez’s profession, only a few different fights make sense for him. He chased a struggle with Canelo Alvarez for greater than a 12 months to no avail. To Benavidez’s credit score, he has continued to push ahead along with his profession, and he seemed pretty much as good on Saturday as he ever has.
What’s Subsequent in Boxing?
On Sunday, Claressa Shields will try and turn out to be the undisputed heavyweight champion as she takes on Danielle Perkins in Flint, Michigan. Here’s a take a look at the remainder of the upcoming boxing schedule over the subsequent 60 days.
Sunday, February 2, 2025
- WBO World Heavyweight Championship: Claressa Shields vs. Danielle Perkins
- Location: Dort Federal Occasion Middle, Flint, US
- Time: 8:00 PM (ET)
Saturday, February 8, 2025
- Dereck Chisora vs. Otto Wallin
- Location: Co-Op Dwell Area, Manchester, GB
- Time: 2:00 PM (ET)
Friday, February 14, 2025
- WBO World Light-weight Championship: (c) Denys Berinchyk vs. Keyshawn Davis
- Xander Zayas vs. Slawa Spomer
- Vito Mielnicki vs. Connor Coyle
- Jared Anderson vs. Marios Kollias
- Abdullah Mason vs. Manuel Jaimes
- Location: The Theater at MSG, New York Metropolis, US
- Time: 8:00 PM (ET)
Saturday, February 15, 2025
- Jack Catterall vs. Arnold Barboza
- Location: Co-Op Dwell Area, Manchester, GB
- Time: Midday (ET)
- Oscar Duarte vs. Regis Prograis
- Honda Middle, Anaheim, California, US
- Time: 8 PM (ET)
Saturday, February 22, 2025
- The Ring, WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBF Mild Heavyweight Championship: (c) Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol
- IBF Heavyweight Championship: (c) Daniel Dubois vs. Joseph Parker
- WBC Light-weight Championship (c) Shakur Stevenson vs. Floyd Schofield
- WBC Middleweight Championship (c) Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz
- Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov
- Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith
- Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel
- Location: Kingdom Area, Riyadh, SA
- Time: Midday (ET)
Monday, February 24, 2025
- WBC World Bantamweight Championship: (c) Junto Nakatani vs. David Cuellar Contreras
- Location: Ariake Area, Tokyo, JP
- Time: 2:00 AM (ET)
Saturday, March 1, 2025
- WBA World Light-weight Championship: (c) Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach Jr.
- Location: Barclays Middle, New York Metropolis, US
- Time: 8:00 PM (ET)
Friday, March 7, 2025
- The Ring Welterweight Championship: (c) Natasha Jonas vs. Lauren Value
- Location: Royal Albert Corridor, London, GB
- Time: 1:00 PM (ET)
Saturday, March 15, 2025
- WBA World Featherweight Championship: (c) Nick Ball vs. TJ Doheny
- Location: M&S Financial institution Area, Liverpool, GB
- Time: 1:00 PM (ET)
Sunday, March 16, 2025
- Callum Walsh vs. Dean Sutherland
- Location: The Theater at MSG, New York Metropolis, US
- Time: 9:00 PM (ET)