David Benavidez has ruled out a rematch with David Morrell Jr. 

Benavidez defeated Morrell Jr. via a unanimous decision to become the WBC mandatory for the winner of Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol, who fight for the undisputed belt at 175 on February 22. Benavidez is on record saying that he would like to fight Bivol. That would require Bivol to avenge his defeat in the first fight.

But if that were the case, Benavidez has stated that he would not fight Bivol until he had a trilogy with Beterbiev. That would leave Benavidez with a chance to get in the ring again to remain active. That has led to speculation he could give Morrell a rematch. But Benavidez’s focus is on undisputed, with a view to eventually fighting Canelo Alvarez. 

“David Morrell wasn’t that known, but we still sold 20,000 people at the T-Mobile Arena. I’m sure the PPVs were pretty good, and I still have a lot of room to grow. I don’t know when Canelo is going to retire, but maybe in a couple of years. I’ll have more titles, and Canelo will probably have more titles, and it’ll make for a bigger fight. It would be kind of like Mayweather and Pacquiao. I felt it was close to happening [a match against Canelo], because I’d done everything I was supposed to do to get the fight. People want the fight. For the past two years, I thought it was going to happen, but I guess it’s not time yet,” Benavidez said