Eddie Hearn sees David Benavidez, Demetrius Andrade & David Morrell as the three fighters with the best chances of beating undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez in the division.
Benavidez & Andrade would be green with envy if Morrell is the one that gets the Canelo fight before them, as they’re been campaigning for a shot against the superstar for many years.
Of those three, Hearn feels that the 25-year-old unbeaten WBA ‘regular’ 168-lb champion Morrell (9-0, 8 KOs) is someone that few would want to tangle with because of the risk-reward not being worth it.
Canelo (60-2-2, 39 KOs) would have a lot of trouble against all three of the top 168-lb fighters on Hearn’s list, but it’s questionable if he’ll bother facing any of them.
He’s done a pretty good job of swerving Benavidez & Andrade all these years, so that may not change.
The four-year pro Morrell hasn’t been around long enough for him to be avoided by Canelo, but he’s also been the quietest in terms of demanding & begging for a fight.
Morrell hasn’t gotten on Canelo’s bad side by becoming an irritant by calling him nonstop the way Benavidez & Andrade have. That’s not the Cuban fighter’s style to beg or demand fights from fighters, although he did briefly call out Benavidez recently, but with no luck.
David Morrell = Canelo’s biggest threat?
“The rumblings in the boxing world is [David] Morrell is really good. We talk about earlier about Shakur Stevenson. It’s the same kind of thing. Why would you fight David Morrell?” said Eddie Hearn to Fighthype.
“I’m not an adviser or a lawyer or a manager, but if I was, I’d say, ‘If you want me to fight David Morrell, you’d better pay me an absolute fortune.’ No one knows outside of the hard, hardcore boxing who David Morrell is.
“Therefore, the risk-reward doesn’t exist, and as much as we’d love to see that fight, even you got to to be honest and say, ‘Why would you fight Morrell?’ So, it’s down to the PBC to overpay people to fight David Morrell. That’s how boxing works.
Benavidez didn’t want Morrell fight
“From the sounds of things, they wanted Benavidez to fight Morrell. Benavidez looked and went, ‘Why?’ They probably didn’t even want to fight [Demetrius] Andrade, to be honest with you. But he’s like, ‘Why would I fight Morrell? It’s not even a big fight, and he’s really good.’
“So the answer is, ‘Who could beat Canelo?’ I think Benavidez gives him a good fight. I just feel Demetrius at 168 can’t necessarily stand up to the firepower, but we’ll see coming up. It’s a very good fighter.
“But Morrell might be overrated. You never know until Morrell is in a real fight what he’s got, either. But the rumblings are with people I really respect in boxing, say ‘This kid is special,’” said Hearn about Morrell.
