David Benavidez vs. David Morrell | PBC PPV - February 1, 2025

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PPV.COM Press Release

PPV.com, which does not require a subscription, returns for its 2025 season debut when it live streams in the U.S. and Canada an explosive battle between interim WBC light heavyweight champion David "El Monstro" Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) from Phoenix and WBA light heavyweight regular champion David Morrell, Jr. (11-0, 9 KOs), a Cuban native who hails from Minneapolis. The action will be streamed live from T-Mobile Arena in the 'Fight Capital of the World,' Las Vegas on Saturday, February 1st, beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Priced at $79.99, it can be ordered at PPV.com.

Hall of Fame boxing commentator Jim Lampley returns to co-host the popular viewer chat in real time throughout the HD live stream. "As soon as I agreed, fifteen months ago, to return to ringside doing live viewer chat with PPV.COM, I began hearing speculation on the exciting possibility of David Benavidez vs. David Morrell. The ringside consensus is that they are two of the biggest punchers in the light heavyweight neighborhood, and the winner may be in position for a megadollars summit meeting with another big puncher, [world champion] Artur Beterbiev. I’m packing to go to Las Vegas for Benavidez vs. Morrell February 1st," said Lampley.

Lampley's eagerly anticipated memoir, It Happened!: A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television, will be released on April 15.

Joining Lampley on the live viewer chat will be award-winning boxing journalist Lance Pugmire, popular podcast hosts Dan Canobbio, and former WBO junior welterweight champion Chris Algieri. Jim, Lance, Dan, and Chris will also be providing exclusive fight week commentary and reports from Las Vegas for PPV.com's website and social platforms.

The Benavidez vs. Morrell pay-per-view live stream undercard will feature three other bouts: the rematch between WBC featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa (25-1-1, 19 KOs), Texas, who is looking to avenge his only pro loss, and Stephen Fulton, Jr. (22-1, 8 KOs), the former WBC/WBO junior featherweight champion from West Philadelphia, who is bidding to become a two-division champion; Mexico City's Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz (26-3-1, 18 KOs), a former WBA 140-pound champion vs. Angel Fierro (22-2-2, 17 KOs) from Tijuana, in an all-Mexican ten rounder; and opening up the pay-per-view live stream will be a ten-round middleweight rumble between Jesus "Mono" Ramos, Jr. (21-1, 17 KOs) from Arizona and former two-belt junior middleweight champion Jeison Rosario (24-4-2, 18 KOs) from the Dominican Republic.

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Fight Week!!

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Press Release

On Saturday's show headlined by David Banvidez vs. David Morrell in Las Vegas, the non-televised action on Sautrday in Las Vegas will see Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs) in an eight-round middleweight tilt against Danny Rosenberger (20-9-4, 10 KOs), and Mayweather Promotions’ top prospect Curmel Moton (6-0, 5 KOs) in an eight-round lightweight matchup battling Frank Zaldivar (5-1, 3 KOs). The undercard will also include a battle of unbeaten super middleweights as Daniel Blancas (11-0, 5 KOs) duels California’s Juan Barajas (11-0-2, 7 KOs) in an eight-round fight... super featherweight Kaipo Gallegos (7-0-1, 6 KOs) faces Venezuela’s Leonardo Padilla (24-6-1, 17 KOs) in an eight-round affair... super middleweight John Easter (7-0, 7 KOs) heads into a six-round bout against Joseph Aguilar (6-2-1, 3 KOs)... and San Antonio’s Gabriela Tellez (3-0, 1 KO) meets Abril Anguiano (4-0, 2 KOs) in a six-round featherweight "someone's ) has got to go" matchup. Tickets for the live event are on sale now through AXS.com. In addition to the PPV being available for purchase on Prime Video in the US, UK, and now Canada — regardless of Prime membership — fans will also be able to continue to access the telecast through traditional cable and satellite outlets as well as PPV.com.

Phoenix’s Benavídez is the older brother of headliner David Benavídez and is trained by his father Jose Sr. A long-established contender who was a highly decorated amateur, Benavídez moved up to super welterweight after dropping a 2018 world title challenge to Terence Crawford, concluding a long run at 147 pounds. He moved up to 154 pounds in July 2022, battling two-division champion Danny Garcia for 12 rounds before losing by a close majority decision. Benavídez made his 160 pound debut in August of 2023, blasting out veteran Sladan Janjanin in round five before dropping a November challenge to two-division champion Jermall Charlo.

He’ll be challenged by Youngstown, Ohio’s Rosenberger, who enters this bout on a fourteen-fight winning streak. The 34-year-old put together a big 2024 campaign, winning four fights including most recently earning a decision victory over Gabriel Escalante in August.

Fighting out of the Mayweather Promotions stable, Moton grabbed the boxing world’s attention last March with a dominant eight-round unanimous decision victory over the previously unbeaten Anthony Cuba, going toe-to-toe and controlling the action throughout a scintillating bout. The 18-year-old was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and now trains and resides in Las Vegas, fighting out of the famed Mayweather Boxing Club. Moton has added three more KO’s since the Cuba fight, including most recently stopping Hilario Martinez Moreno in the first round in October.

He will take on the 28-year-old Zalvidar, who will look to bounce back from a decision loss in his last fight against Yosdiel Napoles in August. Originally from Santiago de Cuba, Cuba and now fighting out of Miami, Zalvidar turned pro in 2019 following an amateur career that included a triumph over Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz.

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David Benavidez-David Morrell Jnr main and co-main officials finalized

The officials for the main event and co-main event for the David Benavidez-David Morrell Jnr card set for Saturday in Las Vegas have been finalized.

Thomas Taylor, of California, will be the third man in charge for Benavidez-Morrell, which will take place at T-Mobile Arena. The three judges who will score the bout are Tim Cheatham and Patricia Morse Jarman, of Nevada, and Steve Weisfeld, of New Jersey.

The officials were initially recommended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Jeff Mullen, and were unanimously approved by the four commissioners who were in attendance on Tuesday at the NSAC monthly commission meeting.

Saturday’s fight will be the third straight Benavidez fight that Taylor will referee. He was also the third man in the ring for Benavidez’s sixth-round stoppage of Demetrius Andrade in November of 2023 and his unanimous decision win in June 2024 over Oleksandr Gvozdyk – both of which took place in Vegas. Saturday marks the first time Taylor will officiate a Morrell fight.

The 12-round light-heavyweight fight, which will headline a Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view card on Prime Video, will have major world-title implications. The winner will become the mandatory challenger for the WBC title, which will be among the belts at stake on February 22 when the undisputed champion Artur Beterbiev meets Dmitry Bivol in a rematch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Benavidez, 29-0 (24 KOs), is from Phoenix, while Morrell, 11-0 (9 KOs), is is from Santa Clara, Cuba, but now makes his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Also on the agenda were the officials for the rematch between Brandon Figueroa, 25-1-1 (19 KOs), and Stephen Fulton, 22-1 (8 KOs).

Harvey Dock, of New Jersey, was selected as the referee, while New York’s Max Deluca, Oklahoma’s David Sutherland and California’s Zachary Young will score the fight. Dock, a former Golden Gloves champion with a 1-0 pro record, has never refereed a fight for either Figueroa or Fulton.

The fight, which will be the first defense of Figueroa’s WBC featherweight title, will be a rematch of their close junior featherweight unification bout in 2021, which Fulton won by majority decision.

“I’m really excited because of all the work I put into this camp,” said Benavidez, 28, on Monday. “I worked harder this camp than I have for any other camp before in my career. It’s got me ready for Saturday night. Now all the talking is almost done and it’s time to show the work in the ring.”

“Fight week is finally here and I’m ready to show everyone that I’m the best light heavyweight in the world,” said the 27-year-old Morrell. “I’ve never been more prepared for a fight. This is going to be one of the best fights of the year and I can’t wait for the bell to ring.”

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[joshj909]

Forgot this was on. Let's see how this plays out. Morrell is a live dog in this one

[goose 5]

My money is on Morrell.

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Forgot this was on. Let's see how this plays out. Morrell is a love dog in this one

He is a lovely dog in this ain’t he

[joshj909]

Forgot this was on. Let's see how this plays out. Morrell is a love dog in this one

He is a lovely dog in this ain’t he

fornicate

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Shame is I'm being offered this on DAZN for a reasonable price, but after having supported their beginnings with umpteen software disasters, when they finally got sorted I could no longer put up with their filler content of competing double digit IQ boxing experts to get to the main event when Boxrec had already recorded the results.

Bena has this if he don't blow it. He gets Canelo Diez y Seis in Saudi Arabia in $eptember for all the glory with big buck$ thrown in...

[Perkin Warbeck]

This is the first really interesting fight of 2025.

The six best light heavyweights in the world - Bivol, Beterbiev, Benavidez, Morrell, Buatsi and Smith - are all fighting each other in February.

[jaouad]

I’m glad this fight happend. Both guys not ducking away from eachother and gave each their best. Morell showed a great heart but Benavidez proofed again why he should be the one facing Canelo.

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Morrell on his reaction to the fight
“We prepared well. It didn’t go like we wanted, like we expected, but we always knew that only one David was going to prevail,” Morrell said through a translator. “The only thing that’s left is to learn from it, move on, and be better next time.”

On picking up the pace too late in the fight
“It was one of my mistakes where maybe I got going a little too late. I was getting going in the last three rounds, maybe I should have done that earlier but it’s something to learn from and something that happened in that fight that was a factor.”

On Benavidez’s professional experience playing a role in how the fight went
“It was definitely one of the main factors in this fight where it didn’t tilt the balance 100% but it definitely was something that did play a role in the outcome of the fight.”

On dropping Benavidez in the 11th and if he might’ve had the chance to stop him with more time in the round
“Well the 11th round was certainly thrilling and unfortunately there’s only so much time. The 11th round last three minutes, not three and a half minutes, so it was something that I unfortunately wasn’t able to wrap up during that round.”

On what he learned from the fight against Benavidez
“I can (beat) him. I know I can (beat) him. Maybe not this night but next time 100% (beat) him.”

On whether Benavidez is as good as advertised or if it was his own mistakes that cost him
“A little of both. I definitely made a lot of mistakes that left me exposed to get hit more than I wanted.”

On if he would prefer to take a few years to gain more experience before seeking a rematch with Benavidez
“As far as the rematch, I’m not going to wait like three years. That would be a long time...I felt that I should of looked (to target) the body more but in that sense he was heavier than normal and it wasn’t like he was hitting me that hard either. I wasn’t feeling his punches a lot more than he was feeling mine.”

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Morrell on his reaction to the fight
“We prepared well. It didn’t go like we wanted, like we expected, but we always knew that only one David was going to prevail,” Morrell said through a translator. “The only thing that’s left is to learn from it, move on, and be better next time.”

On picking up the pace too late in the fight
“It was one of my mistakes where maybe I got going a little too late. I was getting going in the last three rounds, maybe I should have done that earlier but it’s something to learn from and something that happened in that fight that was a factor.”

On Benavidez’s professional experience playing a role in how the fight went
“It was definitely one of the main factors in this fight where it didn’t tilt the balance 100% but it definitely was something that did play a role in the outcome of the fight.”

On dropping Benavidez in the 11th and if he might’ve had the chance to stop him with more time in the round
“Well the 11th round was certainly thrilling and unfortunately there’s only so much time. The 11th round last three minutes, not three and a half minutes, so it was something that I unfortunately wasn’t able to wrap up during that round.”

On what he learned from the fight against Benavidez
“I can (beat) him. I know I can (beat) him. Maybe not this night but next time 100% (beat) him.”

On whether Benavidez is as good as advertised or if it was his own mistakes that cost him
“A little of both. I definitely made a lot of mistakes that left me exposed to get hit more than I wanted.”

On if he would prefer to take a few years to gain more experience before seeking a rematch with Benavidez
“As far as the rematch, I’m not going to wait like three years. That would be a long time...I felt that I should of looked (to target) the body more but in that sense he was heavier than normal and it wasn’t like he was hitting me that hard either. I wasn’t feeling his punches a lot more than he was feeling mine.”