By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated regular WBA Super Middleweight Champion David Morrell of Cuba will be battling it out with unbeaten Mario Cazares of Mexico this Sunday, June 27th in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on Fox. Morrell last fought in December when he won the vacant crown by stopping Mike Gavronski in the third round. Cazares last saw action last September when he won a six-round technical decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a light-heavyweight tilt. The fight went to the scorecards after an accidental headbutt.
The 23-year-old southpaw Morrell is well known for his amateur exploits as he compiled a 130–2 record and captured gold medals at the 2016 Youth World Championships, the 2017 Cuban National Championships and the India Open International Boxing Tournament in 2018 in the light heavyweight division. Morrell, who now fights out of Minneapolis, Minnesota, made his pro debut in August, 2019 when he stopped Yendris Rodriguez Valdez in just 65 seconds.
He then stopped Quinton Rankin in the second round three months later before beating Lennox Allen by unanimous decision for the vacant WBA interim title. When you add in his stoppage over Gavronski, Morrell now stands at a perfect 4-0 with 3 Kos for a current knockout ratio of 75 per cent. Morrell has good size as he stands 6-feet-1-inch tall with a reach of 78.5 inches. Like most Cuban national champions, he’s a polished boxer with plenty of skills and could potentially land some big-money fights in the future.
As for Cazares, he’s 30-years-old and enters the contest with a perfect mark of 12-0 with 5 Kos. He made his pro debut in 2015 and has boxed only 52 rounds since. His power is average with a current knockout ratio of 41.7 per cent. There’s no height and reach information on Cazares so we don’t know exactly how he stacks up size-wise with Morell.
Cazares has never fought outside of his native Mexico and just two of his 12 opponents had a winning record, which were Chavez Jr and Eduardo Tercero in his last two fights. He blew Tercero away in just 33 seconds of their contest in December, 2019. Cazares was brought in as a beatable opponent for Chavez last year, but it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he managed to beat him.
Prediction…
Many fans aren’t too familiar with Morell but he’s a good-looking prospect who already holds a world title. Cazares isn’t well known either but made a bit of a name for himself by beating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last year, which isn’t really too difficult to do these days though. I’m expecting the young Cuban Morrell to retain his title and remain unbeaten on the weekend with Cazares putting up a decent fight.
