Jose Benavidez Sr. says he wants his son, David Benavidez, to get recognition from fans after he “drowns” WBA light heavyweight champion “regular” David Morrell on February 1 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Jose Sr. feels his son, the “Mexican Monster,” hasn’t gotten the credit he deserves for his 12-year storied career, which included victories against Caleb Plante, Demetrius Andrade, Oleksandr Gvozdyk and David Lemieux.

Benavidez’s resume lacks a signature win over an elite level fighter. He has always had a significant size advantage over his opponent due to his decision to fight a division below his size for 11 years. Apparently so are Jose Sr. and David They have a chip on their shoulder It seems bitter despite their success.

“Dumping” the Cuban star

Benavidez finally moves up to 175 and faces his first credible opponent, who isn’t too old or too young, in Morel (11-0, 9 KOs). How this battle will end is anyone’s guess.

“He was a highly decorated amateur and a two-division world champion. So, hopefully we can get the credit for beating a legitimate fighter,” Jose Benavidez Sr. said. Fighthype About the former Cuban amateur star David Morrell, who has the experience of a fighter who has many professional fights.

“We have our game plan for what we’re going to do with this guy [Morrell]. We’ll take him into deeper water and try to sink him. Let’s see if he can swim. Amateurs and professionals, it’s a little different. But you’re fighting David Benavidez, the “Mexican Monster.”

“It’s not an easy fight for any of us. Not for him, not for us. We have to prove ourselves. We want to make history. These are the kind of fights we want. Fights that will motivate you and make you learn and get better,” Benavidez Sr. said.

For David Benavidez to make history, he will need to beat the winner of the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol II. He will also need to move up to cruiserweight and defeat Jay Obitaya. That might be too much for even Benavidez to pull off, assuming he’s victorious over Morell.

When we fought Boo Boo [Demetrius Andrade]a lot of people were saying that David would be exposed and make him look like an amateur. And now they say the same thing about Cuban. “Oh my god, he’s so fast.” It is this. It’s that,” Jose Sr. said.

Most boxing fans felt that the 36-year-old Demetrius Andrade was too old, inactive and undersized to beat the much younger and larger Benavidez. On fight night, Benavidez looked like a cruiserweight champion inside the ring, and the much smaller Andrade couldn’t have won.

“I’m happy to hear that because it motivates us. Even David Morrell says that David fights like a robot. He walks and fights like a robot. But he forgets that he’s an Ai robot, so he won’t see the punches coming.

“A lot of people say it’s a 50-50 fight. I don’t think so. In my opinion, we’re going to destroy this guy. David is on another level,” Benavidez Sr. said of his son.

Father’s hope

Jose Sr. may take this defeat very hard if his son Benavidez loses to Muriel as this is the last of his sons to have a real professional career.

He pinned his hopes on David Benavidez becoming a star, but it didn’t happen that he stayed in the game for 12 years. That’s when many fighters wash out and leave the sport.

Jose Benavidez Jr.’s once-promising career has collapsed since his loss to Terence Crawford in 2018. If David loses to Morel, so is Jose Sr. unless he can come back from defeat, which may not be easy because 175 lbs stacked section.