Welterweight contender Radivoje Kalajdžić says the key to David Morrell’s victory over David Benavidez is staying “composed” for the first six to eight rounds of their 175 main event clash this Saturday, February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Radivoje fought Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) on August 3rd in Los Angeles last year and knows what he can do against Benavidez. He notes that Benavidez has fought “small guys” his entire career, entering the campaign at 168 instead of 175.
When Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) took on 37-year-old former WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June 15, he wasn’t hit hard because the former champion didn’t land his punches. He pushed them.
On Saturday, it will be the first time in Benavidez’s 12-year career that he faces a guy his size who will hit him hard. Radivoja is interested in how Benavidez handles Morrell’s size and power.
Serbian-born Radivojoe (29-3, 21 KOs) punches harder than Benavidez, and Morrell took advantage of his strength to win by decision in 12 rounds.
Morrell’s strategy
“If he can stay composed and calm for the first six to eight rounds, because Benavidez, all he has and all he does is pressure. He will eventually slow down. Therefore, stay composed, choose your shots and go because he can box”, said Radivoje Kalajdžić for YSM Sports media on how David Morrell can defeat David Benavidez this Saturday night February 1st.
“Don’t be an aggressor. I think he can pull it off, but overall it’s going to be a close fight,” Radivoje continued about the Benavidez vs. Morrell contest.
“David Benavidez fought smaller guys his whole career. He was always a bigger guy than when he was fighting [Oleksandr] Gvozdyk, Gvozdyk didn’t really hit that hard. So, I don’t know. This will be the first test. We’ll see if Benavidez gets hurt or if he just follows Morrell?” said Radivoje.
Benavidez will try to trick Morrell because that’s how he always fought and the style taught by his father, Jose Benavidez Jr.; however, as we saw last Saturday night with Jose Jr.’s fighter, Omar Salcido, in his one-sided loss to Cubano Andy Cruzthat high pressure style doesn’t work against talented fighters.
Benavidez will be hit hard by Morrell and could get a boxing lesson from him in this contest. The way to fight Benavidez is exactly how Cruz beat Salcido: jab, potshot, move and attack.
Cruz waited until the second half to start pressuring Salcido, and that unilaterally. The Cuban Morrell can do that too because Benavidez is even sloppier and sloppier than Salcido. Compared to Benavidez, he looks like a top boxer.
Untested waters
“This will be a big test for both of them. I don’t know. We’ll see. I don’t know how he [Benavidez] reacts to guys his size fighting back. So we’ll see,” Radivoje said that boxing fans will see how Benavidez will react to a fight with the equally big Morrell.
This will be an interesting test, showing how well Benavidez can hold his own against his first big hitter in his 12-year career. As Radivoje pointed out, Oleksandr Gvozdyk did not hit that hard. He mostly pushed his shots, looking like he was trying to conserve energy so he wouldn’t run out of gas.
When Gvozdyk started to land his punches late in the fight, he gave Benavidez a lot of trouble and took control of the later rounds. By then it was too much for Gvozdyk, and he couldn’t pull out the win as he put in too many laps throwing partial power.
In the 12th, Gvozdyk hurt Benavidez with a right hand to the body with a throw straight down the barrel. That punch freaked out Benavidez, as he didn’t land a single punch for the rest of the round after taking that punch to the breadbasket.
