Demetrius Andrade questions whether or not WBA ‘common’ gentle heavyweight champion David Morrell has lengthy sufficient arms to get across the guard of David Benavidez once they meet on February 1st on the T-Cell Area in Las Vegas.
Benavidez’s Attain
Andrade had issues touchdown his photographs via Benavidez’s guard attributable to his lengthy arms of their struggle final 12 months and finally stopped within the sixth spherical. He was shocked by Benavidez’s large dimension, and he was too massive for him.
The Cuban Morrell has a for much longer attain than Benavidez, by 78″ in comparison with his 74,” so he shouldn’t have the identical points that Andrade did. Demetrius began his professional profession at 154 and moved as much as 168 in 2023. He’d solely fought as soon as within the weight class in opposition to Demond Nicholson earlier than dealing with Benavidez.
Benavidez’s attain, weight, and youth appeared to present Andrade issues. He regarded quite a bit heavier, like a light-weight heavyweight or cruiserweight preventing a middleweight.
“As a result of he was a giant, robust man, he was in a position to take in it. He weighed quite a bit heavier than me,” mentioned Demetrius Andrade to Struggle Hub TV about his loss to David Benavidez on November 25, 2023.
“After that struggle [Benavidez vs. Oleksandr Gvozdyk at 175], he mentioned, ‘I can nonetheless make 168,’ as a result of he felt the burden distinction. He [Benavidez] couldn’t do what he can do when he’s not the burden bully.
“Now, he’s in an excellent matchup in opposition to David Morrell. It’s two guys the identical dimension. I feel David Morrell is proficient. I don’t know if he has the expertise to truly beat David. [Morrell] is a giant child. He has first rate velocity, however he’s a little bit wild together with his punches. That comes with expertise, after all.”
Benavidez didn’t look good in his debut at 175 in opposition to Oleksandr Gvozdyk final summer season on June fifteenth and was out-punched your entire struggle by the stronger fighter. His energy regarded weak on the weight, and he was fortunate to get the choice. If Gvozdyk had been a extra common fighter, he’d have been given the win as a result of he landed the higher photographs.
Can Morrell Adapt?
“David [Benavidez] has lengthy arms. Morrell is larger than me,” mentioned Andrade. “If you’re throwing punches at him [Benavidez], his arms are so lengthy that it’s robust to hit him. You need to pinpoint your photographs in opposition to him. I don’t know if Morrell has that in him.
“I’m a sharpshooter, and David was in a position, together with his size, to dam a whole lot of the photographs from me. So, you’ve obtained to set him up with some clear, strolling entice photographs,” mentioned Andrade
