By: Sean Crose
No one could blame him had he decided to spend some of his prime years waiting for Canelo Alvarez to agree to meet him in ring. Canelo, after all, is still the biggest name in the sport. Should he have somehow landed a fight with the Mexican star, and then somehow won it, then David Benavidez would have become the toast of the fight world. It just wasn’t meant to be, though. As he likely heads towards the end of his legendary career, Canelo appears to be focusing on fellow future Hall of Famer Bud Crawford rather than on the dangerous Benavidez. Really, though, who could blame him?
For one thing, Crawford is one of the biggest names in the sport. A fight between he and Canelo might actually bring in some casual fans. That’s good for Canelo and Crawford. It’s most distinctly not good news for David Benavidez, however. Still, the 29-0 power puncher isn’t going to waste his time crying over something out of his control. Instead, he’s scheduled to fight the menacing 19-0 David Morrell this Saturday night in Vegas as the main event of a pay per view card. It may not be a fight against the great Canelo, but it’s a dangerous mission none the less.
For Morrell is, like Benavidez, a knockout artist. All but two of Morrell’s fights have gone the distance. Also, like Benavidez, rather than sitting around hoping to be picked by Canelo, Morrell has decided to move up to light heavyweight and to challenge himself there (Benavidez-Morrell will be a light heavyweight affair). What’s more, both Morrell and Benavidez are willing to put their reputations on the line in order to prove who is the better man in the ring. In other words, both fighters have a lot riding on this weekend’s fight. Their willingness to risk a loss in what is still in some quarters a perfect record world, says something about how they approach the sport.
While there’s no doubt that Benavidez has the better record of the two men (Benavidez has bested the likes of Demetrius Andrade, Caleb Plant and Oleksandr Gvozdyk, after all) Morrell has certainly impressed during the course of his four plus year career. While Benavidez-Morrell isn’t a super fight, it’s a high end throwdown for fight fans, one that is more likely than not to be exciting. “The reason why that fight hasn’t happened,” Benavidez is quoted by MARCA (via ESPN) as saying, “is because Canelo doesn’t want it. I don’t want to disrespect him but the truth is, he’s afraid.” That may or may not be true. What is certainly true, though, is the fact that Benavidez is a man willing to cut his own path if need be.