Speaker 1: My next guest is the interim WBC light Heavyweight Champion
Speaker 1: with the record of twenty nine and oer with twenty
Speaker 1: four KOs. He set to take on WBA Light Heavyweight
Speaker 1: Champion David Morrell Jr. In a match that has been
Speaker 1: dubbed the Battle of the Unbeatens. Please welcome the man
Speaker 1: affectionately known as the Mexican Monster, a man who, as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned, one of the best of the world,
Speaker 1: deserves any big fight that's out there. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: David Benavidez himself. What's going on, big time?
Speaker 2: How are you, man? How's everything?
Speaker 3: I'm doing?
Speaker 4: Good, brother, just right here, blessed, counting down to days
Speaker 4: for next week.
Speaker 2: Listen, man, all right, listen.
Speaker 1: I tell this to everybody that will listen, not that
Speaker 1: I'm breaking any news here. I consider you to be
Speaker 1: one of the best in the world, if not the
Speaker 1: best in the world. I think that you should be
Speaker 1: in major, major fights all the time because you're just
Speaker 1: that dude. I'm wondering how hard is it for you
Speaker 1: to get motivated for fights, knowing there's so many big
Speaker 1: time fights that you deserve, and there's so many people
Speaker 1: hesitant to give it to.
Speaker 4: You, to be honest with you, it's not really that motivating.
Speaker 4: I mean not really hard to stay motivated. You know,
Speaker 4: I'm at the end of the day, I want to
Speaker 4: be one of the greatest fighters in my generation when
Speaker 4: I retire. So every fight, you know, I'm coming in
Speaker 4: there with with tremendous motivation. You know, there's a lot
Speaker 4: of fights out there that I feel like I deserve,
Speaker 4: but I feel like, with time, will get every single
Speaker 4: one of those fights.
Speaker 1: When we're looking at David Morrell, I mean I've seen
Speaker 1: I've seen the you know, just the hypes, just the
Speaker 1: hypeen of the fights before, you know, y'all standing face
Speaker 1: to face promoting the fight and stuff like that. We
Speaker 1: say this a lot in terms of guys that don't
Speaker 1: seem to really like each other. Y'all definitely come across
Speaker 1: that way. Tell my audience what you know about this kid,
Speaker 1: what you think about this kid, and why you decided
Speaker 1: to get in the ring with him for this fight.
Speaker 4: So, David Meryl is a good fighter, you know, he's
Speaker 4: he's a he has a really big amateur background from Cuba.
Speaker 4: He's a really technical fighter, skilled fighter. A lot of fighters,
Speaker 4: you know, we're ducking him. They didn't want to fight him.
Speaker 4: But for me being more I am, I said, hey,
Speaker 4: give me the hardest fight that's on the table, and
Speaker 4: that's how we landed on David Morrel. I think he's
Speaker 4: a good fighter, but I'm a great fighter and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna just go in there and show what level on
Speaker 4: money on February first.
Speaker 1: So what's all of this noise he's been talking talking
Speaker 1: smack to you? Do you think it's just a promotional
Speaker 1: thing or does he seem to have some healthy level
Speaker 1: of dislike for you?
Speaker 2: What do you make of it?
Speaker 4: You know, I just feel like, you know, it's two
Speaker 4: fighters that just don't like each other. You know, I
Speaker 4: don't like him, he doesn't like me. He thinks he
Speaker 4: could beat me. I know I could beat him. So
Speaker 4: you know, it's just two fighters. You know, once it
Speaker 4: gets to the stage, you know, this type of thing happens,
Speaker 4: you know, I mean, two fighters that really don't like
Speaker 4: each other and to go in there and go to
Speaker 4: war on February first.
Speaker 1: Listen, the guy is skilled. There's no doubt he's got
Speaker 1: a link the amateur background. He is undefeated as well,
Speaker 1: but he only has eleven fights and I'm wondering, what
Speaker 1: the hell is it deal with eleven fights? How is
Speaker 1: he worthy of being in the ring with David Benavidez.
Speaker 1: How do you answer that to the viewers?
Speaker 4: So the thing I'm most that I'm after the most
Speaker 4: is WBA. You know, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: the titles are still the title for me, and after
Speaker 4: this fight, this puts me in position to fight for
Speaker 4: all the belts I won seventy five, you know. So
Speaker 4: for him people saying it's inexperience, you know, it really
Speaker 4: doesn't matter to me. He was the one calling me out.
Speaker 4: He's the one that said I was ducking him. So
Speaker 4: now he has to pay for all the words he says.
Speaker 2: Talking to David Benaviza's right here on the Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith Show.
Speaker 1: Where do you feel you are right now in your career?
Speaker 1: I mean, I've watched you beat Caleb Plan, I've watched
Speaker 1: you beat Demetrius andre I thought that would be a
Speaker 1: tougher fight than then it was made out to be
Speaker 1: by you, of course, a lot easier than I thought,
Speaker 1: along with others.
Speaker 2: And now you've got this fight.
Speaker 1: How do you view yourself in boxing at this particular
Speaker 1: moment in time to.
Speaker 3: Be honest with you.
Speaker 4: Right now, I feel like I'm on the trajectory great
Speaker 4: to greatness. You know, I've been telling everybody that I'm
Speaker 4: gonna beat these fighters, and I've been showing that off
Speaker 4: with good performances.
Speaker 3: Now after this fight.
Speaker 4: I'm fighting for all the I'm gonna be fighting for
Speaker 4: all the undisputed belts at won seventy five. And like
Speaker 4: I said, I just want to be great, and that's
Speaker 4: exactly one would do by time my career is done.
Speaker 1: I marveled at you because first of all, you got
Speaker 1: power in both hands, you got speed in both hands.
Speaker 2: Obviously you're you're you're just elite.
Speaker 1: What shocks me about you is I look at you
Speaker 1: and I say, sometimes I get scared for you because
Speaker 1: I'm like, he just keeps coming.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like he's inviting you to hit him.
Speaker 2: It doesn't phaze him.
Speaker 1: I've never seen you hurt, And I wonder, is that
Speaker 1: the wisest strategy you.
Speaker 2: Think it is for you to employ.
Speaker 1: It is the sport of boxing, and you gotta knockout
Speaker 1: power on both hands. You've got a tremendous jab. Whenever
Speaker 1: you want to use it, you can use it. And
Speaker 1: use it effectively. Why do you find yourself taking punches
Speaker 1: sometimes when it's absolutely not necessary for you to do that,
Speaker 1: because you got the skills to avoid getting hit.
Speaker 4: To be honest with you, sometimes you got to put
Speaker 4: yourself in those situations where you're trying to You're trying
Speaker 4: to get a counter punch from the bonit, you know,
Speaker 4: because like I said, I like to go in there
Speaker 4: and I like to hurt people as much as possible,
Speaker 4: So I like to punch it between the punches.
Speaker 3: But sometimes, you know, I I feel like my defense
Speaker 3: is a little bit underrated.
Speaker 4: You know. Sometimes it may look like I get hit,
Speaker 4: but I don't really get hit that much. If you
Speaker 4: look at my stats, you know, my defense, you know,
Speaker 4: is amazing. I don't really get touched that much.
Speaker 3: Of my fights got you.
Speaker 1: We gotta can't talk to you without talking about Canelo
Speaker 1: Alvarez because that's the fight we all want to see
Speaker 1: and it hasn't happened.
Speaker 2: We've been waiting for it to happen.
Speaker 1: Every time you go into the ring against somebody, you've
Speaker 1: got to win because one loss could prevent you from
Speaker 1: getting the match that we all know you want so badly.
Speaker 1: Why do you believe Canelo Alvarez refuses to fight you.
Speaker 3: Because he knows that I'm the hardest fight.
Speaker 4: You know, he knows that once he steps in that
Speaker 4: ring with me, that all his accomplishments, all his titles,
Speaker 4: are gonna league with me.
Speaker 3: I told you, I'm not playing with nobody.
Speaker 4: I'm the best fighter in the world, and whoever it is,
Speaker 4: if it might, if it fits Canelo or to better
Speaker 4: be of the ball, I'm beating all those guys, those guys,
Speaker 4: I'm signing a chance with me.
Speaker 1: He has said that your constant provocations, your defiant language,
Speaker 1: et cetera, may have played the role in the decision
Speaker 1: to avoid a match with you, play the role in
Speaker 1: his decision to avoid a match with two. You keep
Speaker 1: talking and he don't like the way you talk about him,
Speaker 1: and that's why he's not fighting you.
Speaker 2: Yet, what do you make of that man?
Speaker 4: That's like, you know what I mean. At the end
Speaker 4: of the day, I'm not trying to be his friend.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to go in there and take all accomplishments.
Speaker 4: At the end of the day, he knows what time
Speaker 4: it is, he knows what the hardest fight is, and
Speaker 4: that's why he's avoiding me. He can say all this
Speaker 4: and that, but at the end of the day, he
Speaker 4: knows that I will be him when he gets in
Speaker 4: that ring movie.
Speaker 3: That's why he doesn't want to fight with me.
Speaker 1: When you look at boxing today, one of the things
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody would deny about you. You give
Speaker 1: no one the impression that there is any fight whatsoever
Speaker 1: that you will avoid. You'll fight anybody. Some people say
Speaker 1: that's good business with the Canilos of the world, and
Speaker 1: others made weather before him, and others picking and choosing
Speaker 1: their fight because of the way the sport of boxing
Speaker 1: is run, and you got to pick your fights to
Speaker 1: make sure you can get the most money.
Speaker 2: You don't seem to be a guy that cares about
Speaker 2: any of that.
Speaker 1: Somebody talks smack and they want some you are going
Speaker 1: to give it to them.
Speaker 2: That's the way you are now.
Speaker 1: If you found yourself from a popularity perspective where you
Speaker 1: ended up being in the position a Canilo Alvarez is
Speaker 1: in right now, how would you be different in terms
Speaker 1: of the fights that you picked to have.
Speaker 3: You know, I always following the same path as my idols.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean. Oscar de la Joyer, Roy Jones, Junior,
Speaker 3: Floyd Mayweather.
Speaker 4: I would just look for the best fights possible, you know,
Speaker 4: the fights the fans want to see, because at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, the fight with me and Canelo
Speaker 4: is a fight that all the fans want to see.
Speaker 4: So if you're the man of the people, you're the champion,
Speaker 4: you're supposed to give the fans what they want to see.
Speaker 4: So if I'm in the position of Canelo, then I'm
Speaker 4: taking the hardest fights. I'm making my history and I'm
Speaker 4: becoming I'm leaving with the I'm not leaving no doubts
Speaker 4: that I'm the best fight in the world.
Speaker 1: Do you have yourself as the number one pound for
Speaker 1: pound fight on the planet right now?
Speaker 4: No, not right now, but after I win all the
Speaker 4: belts at won seventy five, I will definitely be number
Speaker 4: one pound for pounder.
Speaker 2: Who do you have number one? Right now?
Speaker 3: Usick? All this under Usik, Okay.
Speaker 2: You got him. That's a good choice.
Speaker 1: I can't deny that, especially after you just be feary,
Speaker 1: no doubt about that. So you get the belts at
Speaker 1: one seventy five, what do you think that's going to
Speaker 1: do for you?
Speaker 2: Because you're moving up.
Speaker 1: I don't see anybody other than author better other other
Speaker 1: than better be Off. I don't see anybody elite at
Speaker 1: the light heavyweight position outside of you. So what would
Speaker 1: be next assuming you win this fight with Morell?
Speaker 4: After this fight, the winner of this fight, which is
Speaker 4: gonna be me, is gonna fight the winner better be
Speaker 4: E than be Ball. So you know, that's something that
Speaker 4: we've been working on for a long long time.
Speaker 3: You know, I know this moment, moment was gonna get here.
Speaker 4: So after we beat David Morrell, we're going and we're
Speaker 4: gonna become undisputed at won't seventy five.
Speaker 1: Is it possible that doing that could get in the
Speaker 1: way of a future shot with Canilo because you've moved
Speaker 1: up to be a legitimate one seventy five and he'd
Speaker 1: like you, probably want you. We wouldn't want to fight
Speaker 1: at that weight. Could that be a potential excuse that
Speaker 1: gets in a way.
Speaker 4: To be honest with you, I feel like what we
Speaker 4: could do, we could probably do something when we fight
Speaker 4: for the one sixty eight titles and the one seventy
Speaker 4: five titles.
Speaker 3: I think that would be a great you know, that
Speaker 3: would be a great way.
Speaker 4: To entice a fight with Canelo because there'd be twice
Speaker 4: as much of glory for the fight. And uh yeah, man,
Speaker 4: I think you know, I think that would be great
Speaker 4: for the history of Mexican boxing.
Speaker 1: I like I like that idea, no doubt. Before I
Speaker 1: let you get on out of here. How you're gonna
Speaker 1: win this fight? Is it gonna be via knockout? What
Speaker 1: you're gonna do?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm gonna go in there. Like I said, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna put a beating on David Morell. He's been talking
Speaker 4: a lot, so I'm gonna break his mouth and I'm gonna.
Speaker 3: Give him reason. I always remember David Benavide's So I'm
Speaker 3: gonna go in there. I'm knocking David Morele for sure.
Speaker 2: Got you.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to it, my man, David Benavita's man.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Thank you, brother, take care of
Speaker 1: my Thanks to the.
Speaker 2: One and only David Benavidez.
Speaker 1: Be sure to catch Benavidez versus Morel Julior live on
Speaker 1: PBC pay per View on Prime Video Saturday.
Speaker 2: February first. Don't miss it, big, big listen.
Speaker 1: I don't miss David Benavida's fights. I just don't miss
Speaker 1: it because the brother's that gifted, no doubt about it.