Is Morel good enough? Coach questions fighter's ring IQ in Benavidez clash

Trainer Stephen Edwards believes David Morel doesn't have the boxing IQ to defeat WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez in their February 1 fight.

Stephen believes that WBA “regular” 175-pound champion Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) relies too much on his strength and explosiveness, and if that doesn't work, he doesn't have a skill set to fall back on.

Edwards pointed out that Morel had issues in his debut against Radivoje Karadzic at 175 on August 3, but he was never at risk of failure. In fact, Morell dominated every round, but he occasionally got hit by Hot Rod, who was good at boxing.

This guy has more power than Benavidez and Morel has to be careful at times. For the most part, he pinned Gerald with random shots and injured him several times.

Last year, Stephen defeated “The Mexican Monster” Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) against his own boxer Caleb Plant on March 25, 2023, but the result Not ideal. After the fight, Benavidez was impressed.

Plant was too weak and small for Benavidez, who looked like a lightweight in the ring in that fight,

Morrell vs. Benavidez will headline the PBC Prime Video PPV on February 1 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This was the first fight in Benavidez's 11-year career where he faced a man who had a chance to beat him in a 50-50 decision.

The closest he has come to a chance to beat his opponent to date was in his debut against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15, whom he played his last match at 175. Benavidez tired early in that fight and was pounded by Gvozdyk from rounds 7 to 12.

“This is a fight that David Morel can win, but I don't know if he's going to win,” Stephen Edwards said of the Feb. 1 fight between David Benavidez and David Morel Said to Fighthype when.

“It's different when you're back in your corner and you don't know if you're on your feet. I have to see when he's not winning games or when another guy puts mental pressure on him and starts to have a little bit of doubt What adjustments will he make?

“David Morrell impressed me a lot but he relies a bit on his power, power and size. He's too big to compete at 168. I'm very impressed with him, But many of the people he fights are much smaller than him, so he doesn't have to rely on other things like his IQ to use his skills.

Like Benavidez, Morel is too big for the 168-pound division, but he doesn't weigh 175 pounds. It wasn’t just Morell who fought a lot of smaller guys. Benavidez has always been bigger than his opponent in 11 years of fighting, he is 168cm tall.

“I'm not saying he doesn't have it, but I haven't seen it yet,” Eduarda said of Morel's ring IQ. “I would go with David Benavidez. I think his IQ is seriously underestimated. His defense is underestimated. People say he's easy to hit, but when you fight like he does, when you go to You're going to get hit when you're alone. Plus, he's a big guy, but he can catch a lot of punches.

“He's really good at punching you. He can counter. He's very aware of his defense. He's not out there letting his head bang around. When you see him get hit, watch him closely. Even when he gets hit, his hands are up, so the punches have to go through his gloves,” Edwards said of Benavidez.