An eager Benavidez eyes Morelo, eyeing a move in the heavyweight division

David Benavidez can’t afford to look past WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell for his 12-round main event on February 1 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Jose Benavides Sr. says his son could move up to the cruiserweight division to challenge the WBA and WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez if they can’t get an immediate title shot against the winner of the February 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. There is a good chance that Beterbiev-Bivol will fight the trilogy at the end of 2025.

Targeting Zurdo at Cruiserweight

“For some reason, if this fight with the winner of Beterbiev and Bivol doesn’t happen or whatever, we’re definitely going to go cruiserweight to fight Zurdo Ramirez,” Jose Benavidez Sr. told Fight Hub TV.

We don’t know how serious Jose Sr. is about Benavidez moving up to cruiserweight if he can’t get the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol 2, but it’s a bad idea to think about it so quickly. It’s pretty clear that after years of being shunned by Canelo Alvarez, Benavidez has become impatient and will make the best possible fights without worrying about risk. You have to respect that.

If Benavidez advances and beats Zurdo Ramirez, he could potentially win the WBA and WBO cruiserweight division and then face IBF champion Jay Opetaia in a fight the Saudis may be interested in staging in Riyadh.

Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) can’t afford to look past Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) because he could lose it. Second, if Benavidez were to move up to cruiserweight, it would be difficult to move back down to 175 to eventually fight the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol.

Looking into Morrell’s past

“At 175, these two super-contenders, Bivol and Beterbiev, may even end up with a trilogy.” So you are also on the outside looking in. I understand. It’s not fair. I understand where he’s coming from,” said Paulie Malignaggi Probok TV about David Benavides having to wait for big fights after failing to get the one he wanted at 168.

“I say now is the time to think about David Morrell.” He is not susceptible, and David Morrell is in the same situation. lest we forget. Canelo didn’t want David Morrell either. If Morel beats Benavidez at 175, it’s the same thing for Morel. They will wait for Beterbiev and Bivol.

Benavidez and his dad, Jose Sr., appear to be confident that Morel is assured of victory based on his performance against Radivoj Kalajdzic on August 3rd. Morel fought in the worst possible way, throwing single punches and making it easy for Radivo to counter. Morrell put his guard up and let him bounce throughout the fight, and he didn’t attack like he should have to make it an easy match.

Interestingly, Morrell didn’t learn from watching Artur Beterbijev deal with Kalajdzic by hitting non-stop and continuing to attack from the inside. Morrell was doing none of these things and looked lost.

“I think both of these guys are in exactly the same situation, so it’s no coincidence that they end up fighting each other,” Malignaggi said.

Regardless of the outcome of the Beterbiev vs. Bivol rematch on Feb. 22, the two will likely fight in a trilogy, which will leave the winner of the Benavidez-Morel fight sitting and waiting.

Assuming Benavidez is serious about moving to cruiserweight, he could say goodbye to his chances of winning against one of them when he moves back down to 175. Benavidez would be better off staying at 175 and defending his WBA title against one of the top contenders. like Joshua Buatsi, Willie Hutchinson or Anthony Yard.

A move to cruiserweight would make it difficult for Benavidez to return to 175 because he would have to cut weight.