A new division, another win, and a different belt. No one doubted that David Morell Jr. would come out on top against Radivoje Kalajdzic, but there was interest in seeing how he would perform in one of the biggest fights of the season.
Despite his undeniable dominance, it was perhaps not the performance he expected on Saturday’s mega card in Los Angeles when he defeated Kalajdzic by unanimous decision to win the “regular” 175-pound belt for the World Boxing Association, although that does not close the door to a return to the super middleweight category.
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“This guy is tough, he is a very good fighter, I did not think he was going to make it past the third round, but it feels great to be a 2-time WBA champion,” said Morell, who took one 118-110 and two 117-111 scores. “It is a different department, but I feel great.”
After a rather timid first round, Morell returned to his corner and trainer Ronnie Shields asked him to be more intense, to which the Villa Clara fighter responded positively by taking the initiative of the fight and letting his opponent know who was the better boxer.
From the second round on, Morell was the aggressor and landed the better punches, while Kalajdzic went into survival mode, trying to avoid the combinations that tried to undermine his movements, but the Serbian showed that he has a tremendous chin.
Morell was the one who led the way, but he was never able to put his opponent in bad conditions and that, in a way, frustrated him and led him to make defensive errors against a Kalajdzic who went from survival to opportunism, trying to capitalize on the Cuban’s problems.
It remains to be seen how Morell’s team moves its pieces for the future. Morell is seen as one of the best talents in boxing, but at the same time, it has been extremely difficult for him to get the big fights among the super middleweights that would allow him to demonstrate those skills at the highest level.
Since he arrived from Cuba, expectations were high for a boy who had won a youth world title and who was advancing quickly against the level of opposition that was presented to him, while also winning the regular 168-pound title in its WBA version with just three professional appearances.
However, that defining fight in the super middleweight category has not come to him despite his team’s assurances that they have made every effort possible with some of the best names available, including Caleb Plant and David Benavidez, who also operate under the Premier Boxing Champions umbrella.
Kalajdzic was coming off a 10th-round knockout of fellow Cuban Sullivan Barrera, whom he knocked out of the ring with a furious rally at 2:41 minutes and forced the referee to stop the action once and for all at a ProBox event that took place on March 13 in Plant City.
With this win over Kalajdzic, Morrell hopes that some big fights will come his way, such as facing the winner of Artur Beterbiev and Dmitri Bivol, who will meet in Saudi Arabia to unify titles in the light heavyweight division, or Benavidez himself.
“I want Benavidez,” added Morell, who was with his family in Los Angeles. “This fight is not personal to me, but I want to show everyone that I am the best. They say Benavidez is the bogeyman, but I am here and I want to face him.”
