In what appears to be a pre-emptive strike, David Benavidez says his opponent, WBA “regular” light heavyweight champion David Morrell, has been lax about undergoing VADA drug testing. The two will face off on February 1 at the PBC Prime Video PPV at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

During the interview, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) went on to talk about Morel (11-0, 9 KOs) and drug testing, mentioning two of his knockout victims, Cena · Sena Agbeko and Kalvin Henderson to support his argument.

“Safety net”?

To some, it looked like the 28-year-old Benavidez was muddying the waters in case he lost to Morel. If Benavidez is defeated, fans won’t be harsh on Morel and abandon ship because they suspect he’s on drugs. This would give the “Mexican Freak” a free pass to avoid the backlash he usually receives for losing to Cuban Morel.

“Morel actually submitted his VADA paperwork 1 day before Benavidez in late November. #Fact,” said Keith Idec X.

Sadly, Benavidez discussed his doubts about Morel multiple times in advance, as it tainted the fight and dampened interest. But for Benavidez, it gives him a built-in excuse if something goes wrong and he gets knocked out or beaten on points.

Benavidez’s reckless fighting style, which packs every punch with power, will put him at risk of being knocked out by Morel. In his last fight with Alexander Gvozdyk he took a lot of hits and fought like that, luckily the Ukrainian fighter was mostly pushing his shots instead of taking the biggest ones like he did Strength goes into it.

In the second half of that fight, Gvozdyk repeatedly took advantage of Benavidez’s careless style and nailed him with powerful shots. He landed a punch to Benavidez’s tender stomach in the 12th round, completely paralyzing him for the final 30 seconds of the fight. Benavidez didn’t throw anything in that round after being caught in the grain by a right hand from Gvozdyk.

Benavidez’s excuse for pre-emptive strike

“It’s not an excuse, but when you see other fighters saying, ‘Hey, I got tested for VADA but David Morel didn’t get tested,’ it raises a lot of questions,” David Benavid David Benavidez said. mediaBefore the fight on February 1, he suspected David Morel was a dirty fighter.

“I’m not the only fighter saying that. There are two other fighters (former Morel knockout victims Senna Agbeko and Calvin Henderson). We are talking about Agbeko. He said he David Morrell wasn’t tested throughout camp and they didn’t do a drug test after the game, which was a little strange to me.

“I really don’t care about it. Even if he (Morrell) was on steroids, I would beat him, but if you’re a dirty fighter, you’re exposed. That’s why they’re making such a big deal out of it. They don’t want to be tested, but dirty fighters are exposed in the game. Using steroids is bad for the sport and bad for people, so I’m not going to let this slip away,” Benavidez said.

It’s disappointing to see Benavidez constantly mention drug testing and it’s a clear sign that he’s planting an excuse in fans’ minds ahead of his fight with Morel. Cubans believed this was a sign that Benavidez was “afraid” of him.

“We’re getting tested because I’ve been putting pressure on VADA, saying ‘We’ve got to test. We’ve got to test. These are high-level fights that need to be tested. When I went up against Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade, we were doing 14 Weeks of testing. At this point, we’re just starting testing after nine weeks.

“It’s not that I’m always asking about things I haven’t done myself. I’ve had more VADA tests than anyone,” Benavidez said.