By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Benavidez continued his undefeated status as he outworked David Morral to earn a unanimous decision in battle of light heavyweights contenders. Benevidez used power shots and unrelenting body assault to outwork Morrell.
The first three rounds were feeling out process as neither fighter had much advantage but in the fourth round, Benavidez took control as he dominated the round in which he landed 30 punches to Morrell 22 punches.
From this point, he dominated most of the rounds with the exceptions of the eleventh. From fourth to tenth Benevidez landed 151 punches to 104 for Morrell in those rounds. He built up a big lead, but the eleventh gave Morrell’s fan hope. He landed more punches than Benevidez and even knock Benevidez down but instead of 10-8 round, it ended up a 9-8 as Morrell threw a punch after the bell ranged.
Benavidez won the final round and officials had it 115-111, 115-111 and 118-108 whereas I had it 117-109. This was a fight that was easy to score as Benevidez dominated the fight as 49 percent of the punches he landed were combinations versus 29 percent for Morrell.
And the knockdown came too late as Benevidez put so many of the rounds in the bank that only a knockout would have saved the fight for Morrell.
CompuBox Punch Stats
| Punches | Benavidez | Morrell |
| Total landed | 224 | 165 |
| Total thrown | 553 | 601 |
| Percent | 40.5% | 27.5% |
| Jabs landed | 43 | 29 |
| Jabs thrown | 175 | 178 |
| Percent | 24.6% | 16.3% |
| Power landed | 181 | 136 |
| Power thrown | 378 | 423 |
| Percent | 47.9% | 32.2% |
Benevidez put the pressure and nailed Morrell to the body and Morrell stood in front of his opponent as opposed to movement and while the fight was competitive over the first three rounds, Benevidez put on the gas and took control. Not only did Benevidez sustain body shots and combinations punches but many of those combinations included upper cuts. Morrell landed solid shots, but Benevidez took those shots.
Now where does Benevidez go? There are two fights that should be made, one with Canelo Alvarez and the second is the winner of the Bivol vs. Beterbiev. Both would be good fights but right now Alvarez is not anxious to fight Benevidez and who knows about the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol as Beterviev wins, he may retire at 39. And if Bivol wins would this be a trilogy?