by Keith Idec

DAVID BENAVIDEZ understandably sought fights with Canelo Alvarez and Artur Beterbiev not only for financial security, but to enhance his legacy by attempting to beat boxing’s undisputed champions in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Once it became clear to the unbeaten Benavidez that neither of those challenges would be available in the foreseeable future, the WBC interim 175-pound champion embraced a lower-profile, high-risk showdown with the contemporary who has called him out over the past two years. Facing David Morrell Jr. won’t make him the most money or afford Benavidez a shot at a legitimate light heavyweight title, but it is just the type of battle Benavidez believes he needs to prove himself.

Phoenix’s Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and the Cuban-born Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) will fight for their secondary 175-pound crowns February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Their 12-round main event will headline a four-fight Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view show that will be distributed by Amazon’s Prime Video.

Benavidez opened as less than a 2-1 favorite, according to most sportsbooks.

“I felt like I had to take it,” Benavidez told Boxing News of a fight that was officially announced last week in Los Angeles. “I didn’t need nobody to tell me to motivate me to get this fight. You know, I motivated myself because I wanna know, at the end of the day, that I am the best. You know, I’m very confident in everything I’ve been doing, very confident with all the hard work I’ve been putting in. Like I said, I’m the best in this division. I’m not scared of nobody.

“And this is why I’m here, to show this. I’ve been wanting a hard fight like [Morrell] for a long, long time. Just because I’ve been calling out Canelo didn’t mean I just want the payday and wanted to fight Canelo. I wanted a hard fight. And that’s exactly how I am. That’s my mentality. That’s why I took this fight.”

Neither Benavidez nor Morrell performed at their best in their most recent outings, a pair of 12-round, unanimous-decision victories. Benavidez beat former WBC light heavyweight champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-2, 16 KOs) on June 15 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, seven weeks before Morrell defeated Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-3, 21 KOs) on August 3 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

Morrell and Benavidez both won by large margins on all three scorecards.

Benavidez beat Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs), a former WBO middleweight champ from Providence, Rhode Island, more impressively in his previous appearance, which resulted in a technical knockout after the sixth round a year ago at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. Morrell tore through Ghana’s Sena Agbeko (29-4, 23 KOs) even easier in his prior bout, a second-round stoppage last December 16 at The Armory in Minneapolis, Morrell’s adopted hometown.

Benavidez isn’t bothered by criticism of his performance versus Ukraine’s Gvozdyk, in part because the former WBC super middleweight champion knows hand and wrist injuries, as well as a cut sustained in sparring, hindered his preparation for that bout on the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin undercard. The 27-year-old Benavidez did take exception, however, to suggestions that the opponent Alvarez obviously avoided was apprehensive about boxing Morrell – a slightly younger, skillful southpaw who possesses power.

“That was a big factor,” Benavidez said. “You know what I mean? Because, at the end of the day, I know that I’m not scared of nobody. I know I’m better than all of these guys. It kind of made me laugh when I started hearing that from everybody. But I felt like everything happens at its perfect time and place. And what bigger place than to make it happen now? T-Mobile Arena, me and David Morrell, February 1^st, with a great undercard. Man, this fight is destined to happen right now.”