WBC interim light heavyweight champion David Benavidez and WBA ‘regular’ light heavyweight champion David Morrell fight tonight in the 12-round PBC Prime Video PPV main event to attempt to earn a title shot. The event takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. This fight will show whether ‘The Monster’ Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) is as good as he and his followers believe.
Undercard Results
– Featherweight Mirco Cuello (15-0, 12 KOs) scored a miracle come from behind in the 10th-round knockout of Christian Olivo (25-2-1, 9 KOs) to win. The 24-year-old Argentinian Cuello trailed on all three of the judges’ scorecards in the final round. However, he dropped Olivo twice with left hooks to the body in the tenth to win the TKO. The time of the stoppage was at 2:01 of round ten.
Some would question the referee’s decision to stop the fight because Olivo, 25, had gotten back up and wanted to continue fighting after the second knockdown. Earlier in the fight, Olivo dropped Cuello with a right to the head, dominating the battle through the sixth round. Cuello came on in the seventh to take advantage of Olivo’s tiring and got the better of the action the rest of the way.
– Cuban middleweight prospect Yoenli Hernandez 7-0, 7 KOs) may have given a glimpse of what we’ll see in the main event tonight with his fifth-round TKO win over Mexican Angel Ruiz Astorga (18-4-1, 13 KOs). Yoenli, 27, hit Astorga at will with powerful uppercuts in the fifth round. Finally, the referee, Alan Huggins, decided he’d seen enough and halted the contest. The time of the stoppage was at 1:06 of round five.
After only seven fights under his belt, Hernandez looks like he’s got the goods to challenge for a world title right now. The only thing he needs work on is his defense. He was getting hit a lot by Astorga in the first two rounds, and he can’t do that against fighters like Janibek Alimkhanuly, Carlos Adames, or Hamzah Sheeraz. They hit too hard for Yoenli to get nailed like he was tonight.
– Lightweight prospect Curmel Moton (7-0, 6 KOs) overcame a rough start to come on to score a third-round technical knockout of Cuban Frank Zaldivar (5-2, 3 KOs). In the third round, Moton unloaded with a flurry of shots to get a stoppage. Referee Harvey Dock stepped in and waved it off. The time was at 1:51 of round three.
Moton, 18, got tagged a lot in the first round by choosing to trade with Zaldivar at close range. Some shots that Zaldivar landed in that round were hugely powerful, but Moton took them well. However, if this had been a bigger puncher, Moton would have been knocked out for sure tonight because he was too reckless.
At some point, Moton will need to change his style of fighting because he doesn’t possess Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis type of power. Although he looks like him, he’s more of a combination puncher, and he gets hit a lot. You put Moton in with someone like Andy Cruz or Abdullah Mason, he won’t last long.
How to Watch
The main portion of tonight’s Benavidez-Morrell card begins at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT on PBC on Prime Video PPV for $79.95.
The preliminary card will be shown for free on Premier Boxing Champions’ YouTube channel beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. PT before the pay-per-view Prime Video portion of the event. The fights can be seen below.
In the chief support fight, WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs) defends against Stephen Fulton Jr. (22-1, 8 KOs) in a 12-round rematch of their 2021 clash.
Fulton won that fight by a closely contested, unpopular decision. His career has not gone well since, as he lost to Naoya Inoue and nearly lost to Carlos Castro.
Undercard Fights
Brandon Figueroa vs. Stephen Fulton Jr. 2Isaac Cruz vs. Angel FierroJesus Ramos Jr. vs. Jeison RosarioMirco Cuello vs. Christian OlivoYoenli Hernandez vs. Angel Ruiz AstorgaCurmel Moton vs. Frank ZaldivarKaipo Gallegos vs. Leonardo PadillaDaniel Blancas vs. Juan BarajasJohn Easter vs. Jesus AguilarJose Benavidez Jr. vs. Danny RosenbergerGabriela Tellez vs. Abril Anguiano
