LAS VEGAS – David Morrell Jr. noticed David Benavidez receiving more credit for fighting him than the Cuban southpaw suspects he deserves.

Morrell respects “The Mexican Monster.” He noted during an interview with The Ring, however, that Benavidez was, for all intents and purposes, cornered into fighting him next.

Undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez hasn’t expressed any interest in boxing Benavidez, who consequently moved up to the light heavyweight limit of 175 pounds. Undisputed light heavyweight champ Artur Beterbiev is scheduled for an immediate rematch with Dmitry Bivol on February 22 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

That left few profitable options for Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs), who last fought June 15, the night the Phoenix native defeated former unified light heavyweight champ Oleksandr Gvozdyk (20-2, 16 KOs) by unanimous decision on the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin undercard at MGM Grand Garden Arena. From Morrell’s vantagepoint, he was the only appealing option for Benavidez’s first fight of 2025 if the former WBC super middleweight champ planned on headlining a pay-per-view show in the United States (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT; $79.95).

“What else was he gonna do?,” Morrell said. “Canelo doesn’t wanna fight him. So, then, where else was he gonna go? All roads led to me because Benavidez was saying that he wanted to fight the best opponents out there and, you know, that opponent is me.”

The WBC announced recently that the Benavidez-Morrell winner will become its mandatory challenger for the Beterbiev-Bivol winner. The Russian-born, Montreal-based Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KOs) also owns The Ring, IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts.

Morrell, meanwhile, has been calling out Benavidez in a manner similar to how Benavidez publicly challenged Alvarez before he moved on by moving up.

The 26-year-old Miami resident is certain he is the most complete opponent of Benavidez’s 11-year professional career. The challenges his size, strength, southpaw stance, athleticism and IQ present, in addition to having less than half as many fights on his pro record (11-0, 9 KOs), were the foremost factors in Morrell’s mind that made Benavidez wait until this moment to fight him.

“I don’t pretend to know what his team was thinking,” said Morrell, who is slightly less than a 2-1 underdog according to DraftKings. “I do know that whether it was out of anger or sheer desire for putting on a great fight that, again, all roads led to me and that I became his only option. You wanna say that he was cornered or that he didn’t have any more roads to take, it doesn’t matter because, you know, in the end I ended up being his best option.”

Keith Idec is a staff writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.