David Benavidez vs. David Morrell Jr: Live Winners and Losers, Results From Card

If you can't punch Canelo, punch each other.

That's the route unbeaten light heavyweights David Benavidez and David Morrell Jr. took to T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night, when the former 168-pound elites met to firmly establish themselves in a new weight class.

Benavidez and Morrell arrived at a combined 40-0 with 33 KOs, many of which were scored at super middleweight while they simultaneously and fruitlessly tried to goad the multi-belted Alvarez into a fight.

Instead, they fought one another with a pair of nonsense belts – Benavidez was the WBC's "interim" champion and Morrell had the WBA's "regular" strap – on the line alongside a legit claim to be next up for the winner of undisputed champ Artur Beterbiev's rematch with Dmitry Bivol later this month in Saudi Arabia.

The main event topped a four-bout pay-per-view card that followed a three-bout prelim portion and went live at 8 p.m. ET.

The boxing side of the B/R combat squad was in place to take it all in and delivered a real-time list of the show's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.

Make no mistake, David Morrell Jr. is a world-class talent who'll presumably have a place among the light heavyweight elites for as long as he wants it.

But he's not as good as David Benavidez.

And after Saturday night's main event, the truth may be that no one is.

At 175 pounds or anywhere else.

Fueled to perform at a high level by weeks of heated trash talk, the "Mexican Monster" was at his perpetually aggressive best through nearly every moment of a thrilling 12-round slugfest and ultimately emerged with a clear and deserved unanimous decision.

"This is the biggest win of my career so far," he said. "This is a dream come true for me."

It wasn't a top-tier title fight for the former two-time champion at 168 pounds, but the triumph did make Benavidez the next challenger in line for whomever wins the undisputed rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol later this month in Saudi Arabia.

Beterbiev and Bivol have shared the division's full-fledged titles for several years but both Benavidez and Morrell came up to pursue them after years of unsuccessfully trying to get on Canelo Alvarez's big-fight agenda at super middleweight.

Now, given his 30-0 record, championship background, and laundry list of top-end victims at two weights, it may be Benavidez's time to call blockbuster shots.

"Whoever they need me to fight next, I'll fight," he said. "This is Monstro's world."

It certainly was into Sunday morning as he consistently walked down his taller and presumably stronger foe while strafing him with shots to the head and body. The two combined to throw more than 1,000 punches, and Morrell, who left the ring swollen and bleeding, was punished far more than in his previous 11 fights combined.

Two judges scored eight of 12 rounds for Benavidez while a third gave him all but one.

The B/R card had it 9-3 for the winner, who hugged his rival at the final bell but couldn't resist lobbing another grenade as he celebrated.

"To be honest, I thought he was gonna hit harder, but he didn't," Benavidez said. "He was easier to hit than I expected, too. So every opportunity I saw, I took."

Sometimes, one rematch is plenty.

That's the case when it comes to Stephen Fulton and Brandon Figueroa, who engaged in a pitched battle three years ago at 122 pounds but were a comprehensive downer across 12 tedious rounds in Saturday's co-main event at 126.

It was a second straight win over Figueroa and yielded a second career title reign for Fulton, 30, who was a two-belt champ in the lower weight class and earned the WBC's strap at featherweight this time with two scores of 116-112 and another of 117-111.

The B/R card agreed with the wider margin, giving Fulton nine of 12 rounds.

Though several inches shorter than Figueroa and facing a two-inch gap in reach, Fulton controlled the pace of the bout with sharp, quick counter shots that seemed to dissuade his opponent from letting his hands go as he had in their first go-round in November 2021.

In fact, Figueroa didn't surpass single digits in landed punches through any of the first four rounds and was out-landed by Fulton in 11 of 12 rounds.

The first wave of boos began late in the sixth and the derision continued through the fight's back half, often accompanying the fighters as they walked back to their corners.

But Fulton, a fashion stylist in knee-length denim trunks and Timberland boots, didn't seem too concerned.

"I want y'all to continue to support me however you support me," he said, "whether negative or positive."

If you like your boxing brutal, Isaac Cruz is your guy.

The diminutive Mexican stands just 5'4" and will never be mistaken for a ring stylist, but he's found a comfy competitive niche in the sort of bout where the combatants are content to pound one another like Rocky Balboa pounded a side of beef.

Faced with a complementary foe in countryman Angel Fierro, the popular 25-year-old "Pitbull" was his typically hyper-aggressive self while building a lead through the early rounds, then survived some difficult moments down the stretch to earn a justifiable, if not painless, decision.

Cruz, fighting for the first time since losing a 140-pound title belt in August, was a unanimous winner after picking up 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92 margins from the judges and a similar 7-3 edge in rounds on the B/R scorecard in a scrap that'll surely earn some year-end superlatives.

"How incredible is it when a fight that was billed as a Fight of the Year candidate delivers and then some," blow-by-blow man Mauro Ranallo said. "A visceral display of skill, courage and determination."

Cruz and Fierro combined to throw 1,410 punches in 30 minutes, with the former landing 248 of 624 attempts and the latter connecting on 238 of 786.

It's been a long 1,841 days for Jeison Rosario.

That's five years and two weeks, to be specific, that have passed since the Dominican-born slugger, then 24, had a career watershed with a shocking knockout of Julian Williams before "J-Rock's" hometown fans in Philadelphia.

The upset earned Rosario the IBF title belt at 154 pounds, but to say it's been a struggle since is a super welterweight-sized understatement.

He'd experienced myriad traumas – losing his belt by KO and being stopped three other times in the ring, and battling depression outside of it – even before a one-sided loss to Jesus Ramos in Saturday's PPV opener that definitively signaled the end of the line.

Now a shopworn 29, Rosario offered no substantive resistance through six rounds, went face-first to the mat from a combo in the seventh, and was on the wrong end of a six-punch volley in the eighth that prompted referee Robert Hoyle to intervene at 2:18.

"Yes, he's been through hell outside the ring," Ranallo said, "but you wonder how much fight is left inside the body of Jeison Rosario."

Analyst Abner Mares, a former three-division champion himself, agreed.

"As a friend," he said, "I would tell him that it's time to hang them up."

Just when it was getting really dramatic, it was over.

And the crowd – or what there was of one at a still-cavernous T-Mobile Arena – didn't like it.

Referee Chris Flores made himself an unpopular figure in the Nevada desert after Saturday's prelim feature, which he waved off 59 seconds from the final bell even after underdog Christian Olivo, well ahead on the scorecards, rose from two body-shot knockdowns.

That made an abrupt winner out of Argentine prospect Mirco Cuello, who'd been dropped in the second round and trailed by six, four and two points on the scorecards, but was nonetheless able to boost his unbeaten record to 15-0 while scoring his 12th knockout.

The official announcement was made amid audible booing.

"I would be a little irritated if I was in (the Olivo) corner," analyst Joe Goossen said. "It's a tough thing to lose a fight like that."

Cuello drilled Olivo with a hard left just under the ribcage for his first knockdown about 90 seconds into the final session, then landed another after the fighters re-engaged.

Olivo again went to his knees with a grimace but rose again and appeared ready to go when Flores looked into his eyes and waved it off.

Sometimes boxing is just ridiculous.

Case in point, 27-year-old middleweight prospect Yoenli Hernandez arrived Saturday night as the WBA's No. 1 contender, though he'd fought just six times and never beaten anything even faintly resembling a top-10 opponent.

So, make no mistake, he's in no way deserving of such a lofty placement.

But before you think that means he can't actually fight, here's a tip: Don't.

Hernandez, in fact, made an early bid for the most impressive performance of the night, finding success from distance before moving forward to batter Mexican trial horse Angel Ruiz into a fifth-round TKO when referee Allen Huggins stepped in at 1:06.

A decorated product of the Cuban amateur system, Hernandez is long and lanky at 6'2" and has advanced footwork that enables him to work effectively with both hands.

He kept the sturdy Ruiz moving backward from the opening bell and forced Huggins' hand not with knockdowns but with a steady flow of punishing shots for which his opponent seemed to have no answer.

"There's no need for (Ruiz) to go in there and get hurt," analyst SugarHill Steward said. "He'd taken a lot of punishment and it wasn't going to change."

Gentlemen, start your hyperbole.

A teenage protege of former multi-division champ Floyd Mayweather Jr., Curmel Moton had already created a buzz thanks to six straight wins in a career that began 16 months ago.

But the 18-year-old lightweight took it to a new level in Saturday's first televised prelim, using a heady combination of speed, power and precocious ring smarts to batter Cuban export Frank Zaldivar into a third-round stoppage.

Need proof?

Veteran trainer Goossen, who knows what he's looking at, was as giddy as anyone.

"(He's) a cross between Tank (Davis) and Mayweather," he said.

Moton strafed his rugged foe with flashy headshots in the opening round, but sat down on hooks to the body in the second and had a visually compromised Zaldivar in front of him by the start of the third. His headshots turned punishing as Zaldivar devolved into a stationary target and referee Harvey Dock stepped in amid a flow of one-way traffic at 1:51.

"That kid's got it," Goossen said. "He's fast. He knows when to go in for the kill. This kid's going all the way. In a couple years, he's gonna be unbeatable."

Main Card

David Benavidez def. David Morrell Jr. by unanimous decision (115-111, 115-111, 118-108)

Stephen Fulton Jr. def. Brandon Figueroa by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 117-111)

Isaac Cruz def. Angel Fierro by unanimous decision (96-94, 97-93, 98-92)

Jesus Ramos Jr. def. Jeison Rosario by TKO, 2:18, Round 8

Preliminary Card

Mirco Cuello def. Christian Olivo by TKO, 2:01, Round 10

Yoenli Hernandez def. Angel Ruiz by TKO, 1:06, Round 5

Curmel Moton def. Frank Zaldivar by TKO, 1:51, Round 3