An intriguing light heavyweight showdown tops a bill at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Saturday, as interim WBC champion, David Benavidez, and WBA ‘Regular’ champion David Morrell, clash to keep hot on the tails of the leading lights at 175 pounds.
Amazon Prime pay per view is the place to watch Benavidez vs Morrell.
Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is a former two-time WBC champion at super middleweight, losing his title due to a positive test for cocaine in 2018, and then on the scales before beating Roamer Alexis Angulo in 2020.
The Phoenix, Arizona resident would win the interim version of the belt in 2022, hammering David Lemieux in three rounds, and he defended it twice, taking a decision win against Caleb Plant before forcing Demetrius Andrade to retire after six rounds of their meeting in November 2023.
Benavidez would move up to light heavyweight last June, and took the interim WBC belt at his new weight by defeating former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk handily on the scorecards.
Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) is a talented Cuban exile, and he reigned as WBA ‘Regular’ titlist at super middleweight before a move up in weight himself last August.
There, he went the distance for only the second time as a professional, widely outscoring Radivoje Kalajdzic over twelve rounds to take the WBA ‘Regular’ title.
Prediction: Both will hope a win here paves the way to a meeting with Artur Beterbiev, Dmitri Bivol or Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, and that is a realistic possibility. I favour the more experienced professional Benavidez to take the win here, most likely by close decision.
Figueroa and Fulton run it back
More world title action is on the menu on the undercard, with Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) making the first defence of his WBC featherweight title against Stephen Fulton (22-1, 8 KOs) in a rematch of their 2021 meeting, won by Fulton via majority decision.
After losing to then WBO boss Fulton, with his WBC super bantamweight belt going at the same time, Figueroa rebuilt in the weight class above, and after serving as interim WBC champion, last defending with a ninth round knockout of Jessie Magdaleno last May, he was upgraded to full champion.
Fulton would lose his belts at the fists of the superlative Naoya Inoue in Japan in July 2023 via eighth round stoppage, and that prompted a move to featherweight, but his debut proved tough, as he was dropped by Carlos Castro before taking a split decision over ten.
Prediction: Fulton will definitely learn lessons from his featherweight debut, and can take the title home in a repeat win on points.
Full undercard preview
In ten rounders, Isaac Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs) can rebound from defeat last time out to take a points win at super lightweight against Angel Fierro (23-2-2, 18 KOs), while at featherweight, Mirco Cuello (14-0, 11 KOs) can stay unbeaten with a stoppage win over Christian Olivo Barreda (22-1-1, 9 KOs).
At super welterweight, Jesus Alejandro Ramos Jr (21-1, 17 KOs) can take the scalp of former world champion Jeison Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KOs) inside the distance, and middleweight prospect Yoenli Hernandez (6-0, 6 KOs) can win early again, this time against Angel Ruiz Astorga (18-3-1, 13 KOs).
Former world title challenger Jose Benavidez Jr (28-3-1, 19 KOs) returns after taking 2024 off, and he should take his middleweight meeting with Danny Rosenberger (20-9-4, 10 KOs), who has only been halted once, on the scorecards over eight.
Also over eight, Kaipo Gallegos (7-0-1, 6 KOs) can stop Leonardo Padilla (24-6-1, 17 KOs) at super featherweight, and at super middleweight, Daniel Blancas (11-0, 5 KOs) can be a victor on points against Juan Barajas (11-0-2, 7 KOs).
Blue chip prospect Curmel Moton (6-0, 5 KOs) sees action, and the talented lightweight may need all eight rounds to get his hand raised against Frank Zaldivar (5-1, 3 KOs).
In a six round meeting at super middleweight, John Easter (7-0, 7 KOs) should win early once more against Joseph Aguilar (6-2-1, 3 KOs).
