David Morrell (10-0, 9 KOs), the WBA’s secondary super middleweight titleholder, is reportedly set to move up in weight and challenge for a secondary WBA light heavyweight title against Radivoje Kalajdzic (29-2, 21 KOs) on June 22.
Morrell’s move up to 175 pounds follows that of David Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), who will fight on the same card as Morrell against Oleksandr Gvodzyk (20-1, 16 KOs), who will contest for the WBC interim title at 175 pounds.
Both fights will feature on the undercard of Gervonta Davis’ WBA lightweight title defense against Frank Martin. Despite no official confirmation from Premier Boxing Champions, the event is expected to take place in Houston, Texas, and to be broadcast live on Amazon Prime PPV.
The reporting of Morrell’s decision to move from the 168-pound division to 175 pounds originated from reporter Fernando Sabatini.
According to Sabatini, if Morrell defeats Kalajdzic to claim the secondary WBA light heavyweight title, he must also vacate the WBA’s secondary title at super middleweight.
Morrell, like his divisional counterpart and PBC teammate Benavidez, has become frustrated with life as a super middleweight, primarily due to the ongoing success of undisputed champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (60-2-2, 39 KOs).
Alvarez makes his return on May 4 against his Mexican counterpart and former WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia (43-0, 34 KOs) at T-Mobile Arena in a defense of his undisputed championship.
Despite Benavidez being a long-time mandatory challenger, courtesy of the WBC, Morrell finds himself effectively as Canelo’s mandatory challenger via the WBA. But he has found it increasingly difficult to land himself an opportunity against one of the division’s big names.
The opportunity to compete at light heavyweight will put Morrell directly into the conversation to face the winner of the upcoming undisputed encounter between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol. The pair will finally face each other on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in one of the sport’s most eagerly awaited fights of 2024.
