David Benavidez continues to use steroids as a selling point for his fight against “regular” WBA light heavyweight champion David Morrell on February 1.
It’s a strange way to promote the fight and keep fans interested, but Benavidez doesn’t seem to have much to say in his interviews. Also, it is I always look for excuses for his terrible performance in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June. It seems so weak.
PPV title fight
Next month, Benavidez will have his WBC interim 175-pound title on the line against Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) headlining on PBC on Prime Video PPV at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“You’ve never heard my name associated with steroids. You’ve heard the name David Morrell associated with steroids,” David Benavidez told Xicana Boxing about David Morrell, speaking about his unfounded suspicions that he was dirty before their February 1 fight.
“The guy he fought said they tested him, but they didn’t test David Morrell, even after the fight there’s no drug test. It’s weird because there are always drug tests right after the fight. I want to tell people that if I had something to hide, why would I ask for more drug tests?
“We had nothing to hide and that is why we are trying to call for clean boxing. We test as much as possible to make sure there are no oddities.
“I’m definitely going to punish him,” Benavidez said of Morrell. “As for when it will end, I don’t think about it. I think I’m going to go out there and implement my game plan. The difference between my last fight [Oleksandr Gvozdyk] and his fight [Radivoje Kalajdzic]. I went in with two injured hands.
Excuses or reality?
“I had a torn tendon here, a fractured joint and a cut after getting 10 stitches three weeks before the fight. So, I was already going through a lot of adversity. The fighter I went up against was way better than the fighter he went up against,” Benavidez said.
“I think because of that it shows that I’m a different caliber fighter. A lot of people, if they had an injured hand, would have canceled the fight. I had two injured hands. I didn’t cancel the fight because it was a big deal.
“Me and Tank were fighting on the same card on PPV. So imagine if I had pulled out of the fight, I would have let my fans down. I care about my fans more than anything,” Benavidez said.
What ‘The Mexican Monster’ doesn’t say is that he looked worse against Gvozdyk than Morrell did in his one-sided victory over Kalajdzic. Morrell injured his opponent several times during this fight in the head, and his body became stronger as the fight progressed. In contrast, Benavidez never hurt Gvozdyk and tired after six rounds. He was beaten throughout the streak.
There were no signs of injury from Benavidez in his last fight against Oleksandr Gvozdyk on June 15. He was throwing full power punches with both hands and did not appear injured. Where Benavidez looked bad was how he tired in the second half, took numerous hard shots from Gvozdyk, 37, and suffered a body injury.
The fatigue has nothing to do with injured hands and everything to do with Benavidez not handling extra pounds well.
Benavidez made excuses for his poor performance in his debut at 175 against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, blaming injured hands and a recent cut. It would have been better if he had let his performance speak for itself rather than giving excuses afterwards.
