David Morrell is looking for a redemption against an undefeated delicate pretender for the heavyweight Imam Khataev this Saturday evening, July 12, on Dazn PPV at Queens, Up-to-date York.
Although this is not an eliminator of the world title, there is still a lot for both warriors, especially Morrell (11-1, 9 KO), who feels a loss and cannot afford another one. Morrella’s loss here would force him to make a arduous decision about his career.
The winner of this fight will probably be ignored and avoided by the United Master Dmitry Bivol. But they will be able to raise the belts when they are removed from Bivol one by one.
Morrell occupies 2 WBA, #2 WBC, #3 WBO and #8 at the ring. He has athleticism and technical skills to overcome what some fans marked “the next Beterbaview”. He will have to find the right game plan to exploit and adapt if something does not work.
Khataeva power and weaknesses
In Morrella’s 12th failure with David Benavidez, in February last year he waited too long to adapt and fell too far to compensate for the lost land. Khataev (10-0, 9 KO) has better power than Benavidez and is as aggressive as he is. He lacks speed, strength and mobility. This is something that a younger warrior, 27 -year -old Morrell, can exploit.
During training clips, Morrell jumped around the ring, recalling the British warrior Ben Whittaker, a boxer with whom Khataev lost in the Olympic finals in 2020. Whittaker hindered Khataev to land more than one blow in any sequence and neutralized his power.
Morrell showed in his last fight and many others that he has the power to publish and defeat Khataev in his own game, slowing him with him. If Morrell is ready to go to war with him, he has offensive armament to exploit and knock him out.
In the last fight Khataeva with the journeyman Durval Elias Palacio was shelled by combinations at the end of the fight. There was one sequence in which Palacio appeared close to getting knockouts after the Khataeva marking with quick fire in eight punches, with each landing. Khataev looked in a bad shape, with his eyes, and his face used from bulky skin he took.
If Morrell and Khataev were better known to fans, their fight would probably stay higher on the card on July 12, because he promises that he would be more fun than two fights in front of them.