David Morrell Jr. believes he became too focused on knocking out opponents the past couple years.

Pursuing a knockout and letting his emotions impact him distracted the Cuban southpaw from sticking to his game plan when he fought undefeated David Benavidez on February 1 in Las Vegas. Morrell regrets trading too much with Benavidez, who beat Morrell by unanimous decision in their 12-round light heavyweight fight at T-Mobile Arena.

Morrell had memorable moments of success when he battled Benavidez. The versatile boxer-puncher would've given himself a better chance to win, Morrell claims, had he boxed Benavidez more than he fought on the inside against his aggressive, durable rival.

Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) will try to avoid making those same mistakes when he meets Imam Khataev (10-0, 9 KOs) as part of "Ring III," The Ring’s pay-per-view card July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York. The unbeaten Russian figures to come forward during their 10-round bout, which should afford the 27-year-old Morrell opportunities to utilize the skills he honed while learning how to box in his home country.

"I'm not focused on the knockout," Morrell told The Ring. "Everybody was saying, 'You need knockouts. You need to knock out [Benavidez].' Now, no, I move. I'm boxing. If I see the moment for a knockout of [Khataev], I'll do it. But if I don't see the moment, it's OK.

"I have the legs to move for 10 or 12 rounds. I'm not focused on getting a knockout every time. I want to use what I learned in the Cuban school of boxing. I don't want to attack for nothing. It's lost energy for nothing."

Morrell made it clear, though, that this shift back to what he considers a more sensible style doesn't mean that he won't try to entertain fans when he faces Khataev, a shorter, right-handed fighter who won a bronze medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The former WBA secondary super middleweight champion dislikes watching boxers who won't engage as much as fans frustrated by the overall lack of action produced during The Ring's last pay-per-view event May 2 at Times Square in Manhattan.

"What I mean by going back to boxing, it's not running around the ring," Morrell said. "I hate that some of the media thinks just because someone wants to box that means running. The greatest fighters in history were boxers. One example is Floyd Mayweather. So, when I talk about boxing, it's the sweet science. It's move, slip, hit, counter – that's what I'm talking about. I definitely don't agree with fighters just getting in the ring and running around."

That said, Morrell won't be influenced anymore by how people push him to fight. That can only lead to the Miami resident resorting to the types of tactical mistakes that cost him against Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs), who won by scores of 118-108, 115-111 and 115-111.

"One of the biggest lessons I learned," Morrell said, "and I've carried it into this camp and going forward, is number one, be focused. Stay focused, don't pay attention to the noise. Stay focused on the task at hand. And second, I'm working on going back to being myself.

"Some of the noise took me out of character. I'm looking forward to going back to who I was two, three years ago. Obviously, we came up a little bit short in February, and that means we've gotta work a little bit harder."

DraftKings considers Morrell a 5-1 favorite to beat Khataev, who is untested even at age 30, in a bout DAZN will distribute on pay-per-view in the United States (6 p.m. ET; $59.99) and the United Kingdom (11 p.m. BST; £24.99). The Ring ranks Morrell eighth among its light heavyweight contenders, two spots ahead of the 10th-rated Kataev.