David Morrell Jr’s manager, Luis Decubas Sr, says David Benavidez’s meltdown today during the final press conference was a signal that he realizes now that he’s going to be knocked out on Saturday night, and he’s in a state of mentally falling apart before the first shells start falling around him.
Decubas states that Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) showed “fear” to the world today during the press conference with his unstable behavior. He says that the “bully” Benavidez isn’t the same fighter now that he’s facing a kid who is bigger than him, more powerful, and with superior technical skills.
Morrell: The Ani-Bully
“Now, he finally realizes, ‘I’m going to get knocked out,’” said Luis Decubas Sr. to Fight Hub TV, about how worried and upset David Benavidez acted during today’s final press conference for his fight against David Morrell on Saturday night.
“You saw Morrell smiling up there, cools as a cucumber, and he [Benavidez] showed fear to the whole world, how scared he is. He kept staring me down. I’m not the fighter. This time the bully doesn’t work. The ‘Monster’ man is over on Saturday night,” Decubas continued.
“Andrade was a 154-pounder when he was good. Lemieux was a 154-pounder when he was good. Kyrone Davis was a 160-pounder. Anthony Dirrell during his best days was a 160-pounder, and Caleb Plant 168-lb champion of the world. Every guy he fought was a smaller guy coming up in weight. His father [Jose Benavidez Sr] is good at matchmaking, trying to protect his son. I don’t blame him, but this time he’s made a mistake,” said Decubas about Benavidez’s past opponents being smaller.
The examples Decubas mentioned of Benavidez feasting on older, smaller fighters is just the tip of the iceberg. 99% of his career wins have come against smaller over-the-hill fighters. It wasn’t until Benavidez fought Oleksandr Gvozdyk last June that he wasn’t facing a smaller guy, but he was washed up at 37 and had been retired for four years. This wasn’t a prime Gvozdyk that had knocked out Adonis Stevenson or the fought Artur Beterbiev.
“He’s fighting a guy [Morrell] that’s bigger than him and has four inches on reach,” said Decubas. “He’s a different animal, baby. He’s going to find out when he gets knocked out on Saturday night. I have Morrell and Felicano on a card. They actually look like they’re going to a party. They’re happy, going to Las Vegas. These guys don’t know fear.”
Getting knocked out by Morrell is going to devastate Benavidez mentally and perhaps physically as well. I just wonder how he’s going to deal with it. However, given the excuses Benavidez made for his abysmal performance against Gvozdyk last year, he’ll likely try to varnish the truth to the fans and himself. When a person is a narcissist, as Benavidez appears to be, setbacks don’t bother them because they always have some excuse they cook up to make sense of what happened to them.
A Different Breed
“When you grow up in a communist system, you’ve got to fight everybody they put in front of you,” said Decubas about Morrell. “You have five fights to be the best, and you don’t have the food that he [Benavidez] had. You don’t have the easy life that he had. These guys struggle. There’s no fear with these guys. They’re born killers. That’s what they’ve been doing since they were kids.”
Cuban fighters are entirely different people from the rest of the world. Nothing worries them, and they’re always so calm. It’s not just something that they’re taught. It’s just built in from birth. They’re physically designed to handle stress. If you saw today’s press conference, Morrell looked like he was at a party. He was so happy. In contrast, Benavidez was miserable, and and looked like he’d already lost.
“He keeps talking about the sparring with Golovkin,” said Decubas about Benavidez talking constantly about how he used to spar with Gennadiy Golovkin as a teenager. “He didn’t have any amateur fights. When he was sparring with Golovkin and the other guys he was talking about, they were taking it easy on him. You were a young kid. The sparring don’t mean s***.”
Yeah, it’s weird how Benavidez frequently brings up his past sparring with Golovkin, acting like it’s a badge of honor. Golovkin took it easy on the fat teenager when they sparred because he wasn’t going to bludgeon his sparring partner, who was there to help him.
“He kept talking over me. He didn’t even let me talk, and that’s why I got upset. I’ve never seen a guy so afraid. I’ve never seen a guy so nervous,” said Decubas.
