Skip to content
Home
David Benavidez overcomes late knockdown to beat David Morrell in early Fight of the Year contender
- David Benavidez defeats David Morrell by unanimous decision (115-111, 115-111, 118-108) to retain his WBC interim light heavyweight title and win the WBA (Regular) championship.
- Morrell ROCKED early in Round 12 by hooks from Benavidez. Morrell may have had the late success but Benavidez certainly looks the fresher and the stronger.
- Left hook from Benavidez just after the halfway point of the 12th. Morrell trying to land something significant in the final minute, but he is so tired that he is hitting air. He’s not going to find the finisher and Benavidez will likely walk away the winner!
- 10-9 Benavidez, 115-111 Benavidez.
- DOWN GOES BENAVIDEZ! What a brilliant right hook from Morrell. Morrell had Benavidez in trouble earlier in the round with a flurry while Benavidez was up on the ropes.
- MORRELL LOSES A POINT for hitting Benavidez after the bell. What disappointment for Morrell after finally finding a breakthrough. Replay shows that Morrell intentionally hit Benavidez way after the bell!
- 10-8 Morrell (-1), 105-102 Benavidez.
- Right uppercut from Benavidez just after the halfway point is half-blocked by Morrell. Benavidez attempting hooks to both sides of the head and body, Morrell spears a long jab to try and create some distance between himself and Benavidez. We haven’t seen many jabs in this fight, but perhaps it is a weapon that should’ve been utilized from the opening bell by Morrell.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 97-93 Benavidez.
- Benavidez unloads a combination on Morrell at center ring in the second minute of Round 9. Morrell is eating these shots on his guard, with the odd punch getting through, including a left uppercut. Morrell responds with his own flurry, insistent not to allow Benavidez to get the upper hand.
- Benavidez is controlling the action though, and forcing Morrell to punch when he doesn’t want to punch and fight at a range that he isn’t comfortable at.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 87-84 Benavidez.
- Morrell was told by his corner that he needed to push Benavidez back in this round but he’s not doing that.
- Good counter left from Morrell just after the one-minute mark. Combination from Morrell gets through but it looks weak. Morrell has fought the wrong fight — he has fought Benavidez’s fight by standing and trading.
- Right hand from Benavidez breaks the guard at the end of the eighth.
- 10-9 Morrell, 77-75 Benavidez.
- Left hook for Benavidez connects. Benavidez targeting the body for power shots as Morrell fights with a tight guard up close. Left uppercut breaks the guard for Benavidez. Morrell responds with a combo, but it’s clearly not having the same effect as Benavidez’s punches. The power advantage is starting to make a substantial difference now.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 68-65 Benavidez.
- Benavidez alternating the straight right hand between Morrell’s head and torso area. Morrell EATS A HUGE UPPERCUT at the halfway point of the sixth. Great stuff from Benavidez.
- Morrell landing hooks with both hands in the last 30 seconds but he’s waiting and admiring his work rather than moving after punching. Benavidez gets close to Morrell and launches his own attack, Morrell refuses to get out of the way of it.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 58-56 Benavidez.
- Both men taking a breather in the first half of the fifth after what has been a hectic start to this fight.
- Morrell unloads as Benavidez is on the ropes with one minute to go. Benavidez catches Morrell with a left hook as Morrell tries to evade a combination. Some good body work from Benavidez at the end of the fifth.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 48-47 Benavidez.
- The pair are trading in the corner. Heavy left hand lands for Morrell, Benavidez connected with the right hook in the midst of more than a dozen blocked punches.
- Uppercut from Benavidez breaks Morrell’s guard. He clearly has the power advantage. Morrell now finally starting to move and box in the final minute of the fourth.
- Uppercut from Benavidez ROCKS Morrell. The tide is starting to turn, but Morrell fires right back just when he was hurt. Great action!
- 10-9 Benavidez, 38-38.
- It’s been an interesting fight through three rounds. Both men are throwing in flurries but not necessarily landing very much as they have high, tight guards. Morrell has been more active in the first three rounds; Benavidez knows that he will only get stronger as the rounds go on though.
- 10-9 Benavidez, 29-28 Morrell.
- Good start to the second for Morrell, who lands a stiff left hand counter early that pushed Benavidez’s head back.
- Benavidez backs Morrell up onto the ropes and lets go with a variety of right hands.
- Morrell seems happy to fight on the inside, despite his tremendous Cuban schooling, landing short right hands up close.
- It’s back and forth as Benavidez immediately responds with a straight right hand and a right hook later on.
- But a good finish to the stanza from Morrell, who breaks the guard with a couple of power shots and admires his success.
- 10-9 Morrell, 20-18 Morrell.
- Benavidez and Morrell wasting no time getting to work.
- Benavidez happy to hit gloves and arms early. Morrell not landing clean either, but more active in the opener.
- Morrell landed a good left hand/right hook towards the end of the first round, which probably edges him the first.
- 10-9 Morrell.
- WBC interim light heavyweight champion Benavidez clashes with the WBA (Regular) titlist Morrell in a final eliminator for the Feb. 22 Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol winner.
- Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is a former two-time WBC super middleweight champion. He had a strong 2023 campaign, beating Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade, but still failed to entice boxing’s biggest star, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, to get in the ring with him. As a result, Benavidez moved up to light heavyweight in 2024 and made his debut in the division against Oleksandr Gvozdyk, capturing the WBC interim title.
- Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) won the WBA interim championship at super middleweight in just his third professional bout in 2020 and was upgraded to WBA (Regular) champion the following year. Morrell defended his belt six times however he struggled to land significant fights, so he, too, followed Benavidez up to light heavyweight in 2024. Morrell edged Radivoje Kalajdzic in August to become a two-time WBA (Regular) belt holder.
- Stephen Fulton beats Brandon Figueroa by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 117-11)to win the WBC featherweight title and become a two-division champion.
- Figueroa hammering in body shots late in the twelfth round. Fulton has gone back to the ring ropes, but he is having more success there, countering with the right hand and left hook.
- Fulton’s straight right hand has worked a treat all night long, Figueroa has not been able to time that punch, and that has played a big part in his downfall tonight.
- 10-9 Fulton, 117-111 Fulton
- It’s been a scrappy 11th round. Fulton has done a good job of staying away from the ring ropes, but he isn’t moving laterally and choosing to trade in the centre of the ring instead.
- Fulton’s legs are clearly tired, and Figueroa is coming on stronger here with activity and some nice uppercuts up close. His power has also gone by this point in the fight, though, so it seems unlikely that he will be able to get the finish he needs.
- 10-9 Figueroa, 107-102 Fulton
- Fulton continues to ignore the advice of his corner and stays on the rope for much of the tenth round. Figueroa had a good spell there with body shots and hooks up close; Fulton was forced to revert to a philly shell defense to avoid being winded by body shots. Fulton had his moments earlier in the tenth with a combo and counter-punching, but it was better work from Figueroa.
- 10-9 Figueroa, 98-92 Fulton
- The boos roar into the arena, but it’s been a technical masterclass from Fulton.
- Four countering punches connect for Fulton early in the eighth as Figueroa tries to close the distance, but is met with a full arsenal of punches for his trouble. The right uppercut, right-hand body shot double was the best of the spell. So much so that Fulton has continued to look for that uppercut in round 8.
- Fulton’s trainer, Bozy Ennis, however, is not happy that his charge is fighting with his back to the ropes.
- 10-9 Fulton, 79-73 Fulton
