David Benavidez and David Morrell will put their intense rivalry to bed when the pair meet on Saturday night.
The top light heavyweight fighters have engaged in a verbal barrage over recent weeks and have shown a clear dislike for one another. Benavidez and Morrell even engaged in an intense online face-to-face ahead of the bout.
Competing for the WBC Interim World Light Heavyweight title, the winner of Benavidez versus Morrell will become the mandatory challenger for the undisputed belts.
With the victor facing the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol, the stakes couldn’t be higher for the rivals.
David Benavidez sends violent warning to David Morrell
Benavidez and Morrell faced off on Friday night following their ceremonial weigh-ins.
Both fighters weighed in below the light heavyweight limit, with each man stepping on the scale at 174.2 lbs.
Speaking at the weigh-in, Morrell said, “I’ve already seen what he’s about, and it’s all fake,” when speaking about Benavidez. The Cuban would then add, “Let’s see if he’s actually able to do what he says.”
In response, Benavidez had intense words for his opponent. “All the talking is over. I’m going to beat the f*** out of David Morrell on Saturday.”
“He’s going to see who the Mexican Monster is on Saturday.”
David Benavidez aiming to put on showcase versus David Morrell
As both fighters were in attendance for the pre-fight press conference, the two maintained their bad blood by holding a war of words.
When asked why he appeared to be more animated in the lead-up to the fight, Morrell said that Benavidez had been “lying” to his face and that he would “bust him up”.
“You don’t disrespect me like that in boxing,” said the Cuban.
Responding to this, Benavidez said, “I hope you had a good training camp because I want no excuses after I knock you the f*** out.”
‘The Mexican Monster’ confirmed that he preferred to go into a fight with animosity, which has been on clear display with Morrell.
Speaking about the fight, Benavidez said, “I’m going to try and hurt him every single round,” and that he has “the strongest fighting spirit in all of boxing.”
Benavidez predicted that Bivol will defeat Beterbiev, meaning he may have the Russian in his sights following a victory over Morrell. However, the American has also been vocal in his ambition to fight Canelo Alvarez, as well as test the waters at cruiserweight.