Diego Pacheco believes WBA regular light heavyweight champion David Morel will be the man to beat David Benavidez in the main event on February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas “the strongest opponent”.

Pacheco, a super middleweight contender who trains with Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), predicts he will beat Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) ) and take the lead. He compared Morrell to Caleb Plant, a strange comparison, arguing that Benavidez started slow but then gradually improved.

body shot threat

If Benavidez takes as many hits from Morel as he does from Plant, he’s going to be in trouble in this fight. Morel has a completely different strength than Plant and will target his weak midsection to stop him. Like all boxers, Benavidez has a weakness in his game, and that’s body shots. Morel may focus on his pudgy The intestines of the late Elvis Presley Scored with a body shot.

“David Morel is a guy you can’t take lightly. He’s in there for a reason, he’s one of the best Cubans right now,” said Diego Pacheco. Sean ZittleSpeaking of David Morel, he will face WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez on February 1st.

“I think David (Benavidez) is a monster. He doesn’t allow anybody to take it away from him. When he gets in there, he’s out to kill people. Of course, I think Morel is going to be the player he has been so far. By far the toughest opponent, but I still think David will come out on top. He (Morrell) has a good jab, he’s a very good fighter and he keeps a good distance.

“I feel like he’s going to put David in trouble in the early rounds. But like we saw with Caleb Plant, when he fought David, he boxed well in the early rounds. But David had the courage to stand up, even in the midst of a scuffle, and he still got attacked.

Using Caleb Plant as a reason for Benavidez to beat Morel doesn’t make a lot of sense. Plant is a smaller, older, less powerful fighter who is nothing like the 27-year-old Morel. Plant has never been much of a boxer and he got knocked out by Canelo Alvarez. His style was different from Morel’s.

“I feel like when you box with a guy like David, no matter what you do he’s still going to come forward, which makes it hard to keep the same game plan and stick to it. When you have a monster like him, Throwing punches, punching, it’s hard,” Pacheco said.

Benavidez’s habit of moving forward led to him scoring multiple headshots during his fight with Alexander Gvozdyk last June 15. If Gvozdyk had targeted Benavidez’s body instead of his concrete head, he might have scored.

When he finally got close to Benavidez’s body in the 12th, he hurt him. Benavidez’s midsection is weak, and he leans back in a Fury-esque manner, which leaves his body open. Pachejo raved about Benavidez’s ability to avoid blows to the head, saying he was leaning.

That’s true, but his abdomen is unprotected, which is his weak point. He likely won’t be able to handle Morel’s punches to the body or head, as he punches harder than anyone he’s faced before and is an excellent counterpuncher.

“His defense is crazy. He stands up so straight. He’s really good at coming back. Every training camp, he’s getting better. He’s learning,” Pacheco said.

Rivals at their peak

Benavidez’s defense wasn’t great. If you watched his last two fights with Alexander Gvozdyk and Demetrius Andrade, you’ll see him just walking forward in a RoboCop fashion, blocking the camera with his head, Work harder than these two older fighters. Gvozdyk is 37 years old and Andrade is 36 years old.

Neither man is the same person they were ten years ago. It would be the same thing if Benavidez was on the wrong side of 30 and fighting a younger fighter. He won’t do very well.