David Benavidez and David Morrell nearly came to blows at a press event to promote their Feb. 1 super middleweight fight.
Benavidez patted the WBA interim title belt over Morrell’s shoulder, who responded by doing the same to Benavidez’s WBC interim title belt, and as the two jawed away face-to-face, Benavidez passed his belt to someone else and shoved Morrell, who responded by throwing his belt at Benavidez.
Many people were able to step into the middle before it got too serious — which is, you know, always the case — but this will probably put at least a little extra heat on the fight, and the two sides have talked this up pretty well already.
Here’s footage:
Apart from any of the standard hype at play here, Benavidez (29-0, 24 KO) vs Morrell (11-0, 9 KO) is already a terrific matchup for the diehard boxing fan, two rising stars meeting for a pair of interim belts at 175 lbs, which for once isn’t that big of a shame because we’ve got Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol in a rivalry that renews on Feb. 22 for the undisputed championship of the division.
Benavidez and Morrell possibly could have taken easier fights and waited on the veterans to see their bouts through, then angled against one another to step up against the winner, but PBC is in dire need of intriguing main event fights, and while this may not have box office blockbuster written all over it, it’s definitely quality.