Pick it: David Benavidez vs. David Morrell

When to watch: Saturday, February 1 at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT)

How to watch: Pay-per-view via Amazon’s Prime Video, PPV.com and traditional cable and satellite outlets. 

A free preliminary broadcast will stream at 6 p.m. Eastern time (11 p.m. GMT) on Prime Video, and it will be available for subscribers and non-subscribers alike.

Why to watch: This fight will be exciting between the bells – and what happens on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas will certainly reverberate beyond those bells, beyond fight night and through the light heavyweight division.

Benavidez and Morrell both arrived at 175lbs last year after stints at super middleweight, where each was in line for a shot at Saul “Canelo” Alvarez that didn’t come.

Benavidez, 29-0 (24 KOs), is a 28-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona, who was a two-time titleholder at 168. His first reign with the WBC belt ended because of a positive cocaine test taken while out of competition, and the second concluded when he came in overweight on the scales. Benavidez went on to become the WBC interim titleholder. His best wins in the division came against Anthony Dirrell, Caleb Plant and Demetrius Andrade. Last June, Benavidez moved to light heavyweight and outpointed former lineal champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

Morrell, 11-0 (9 KOs), is a 27-year-old originally from Cuba and now living in Minnesota. He held the WBA’s secondary “regular” belt for a spell at 168 and blasted through foes such as Yamaguchi Falcao and Sena Agbaeko. Morrell’s debut as a full-fledged light heavyweight came in August, when he won a unanimous decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic.

Morrell’s previous level of opposition doesn’t compare to Benavidez’s. That means this is his opportunity to step up and prove that he belongs in this top tier.

It’s a welcome occurrence when two top contenders take a calculated risk by facing each other rather than waiting to cash in their lottery tickets. Benavidez is now the interim WBC light heavyweight titleholder while Morrell has the WBA’s “regular” belt at 175. Those are the same baubles they had at 168. Each is in line for a shot at the winner of the February 22 rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

This is the biggest fight available for them in the interim. The winner should be an even bigger star and have an even stronger case than before. The other top contender at light heavyweight is Joshua Buatsi, the WBO’s interim titleholder, who will face Callum Smith on the undercard of Beterbiev-Bivol II.

There are three fights on the pay-per-view undercard, and another two bouts available for free on the preliminary broadcast.

The most notable undercard bout is between WBC featherweight titleholder Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. This is a rematch from November 2021, when both held world titles at junior featherweight. Fulton won a majority decision in a very close, very entertaining battle.

Figueroa has been at 126lbs since. The 28-year-old defeated Carlos Castro, Mark Magsayo and Jessie Magdaleno to move to 25-1-1 (19 KOs). He became the WBC’s interim titleholder with the Magsayo win and then was elevated last year when Rey Vargas, injured and inactive, was demoted to “champion in recess.”

Fulton stuck around at 122 after the first Figueroa fight, something he has since said was a mistake. He made one more successful defense before traveling to Japan to defend against Naoya Inoue, losing to “The Monster” via eighth-round technical knockout in July 2023. Fulton returned to the ring this past September and struggled to a split decision win over Castro. The 30-year-old is now 22-1 (8 KOs).

Also on the PPV: Isaac Cruz vs. Angel Fierro at junior welterweight and Jesus Ramos vs. Jeison Rosario at junior middleweight.

And in the prelims: a fight between featherweights Mirco Cuello and Christian Olivo Barreda, plus middleweight prospect Yoenli Hernandez will meet Angel Ruiz Astorga.

More Fights to Watch

Thursday, January 30: Mazlum Akdeniz vs. Gabriel Coffie (TrillerTV.com)

The broadcast begins at 7 p.m. Eastern Time (midnight GMT).

Akdeniz, 20-0 (8 KOs), is a junior welterweight prospect from Montreal, Canada, headlining at the Casino de Montreal. The 27-year-old fought only once last year, outpointing the 19-4 Sebastian Ezequiel Aguirre in May.

Coffee, 11-2-2 (10 KOs), is a 23-year-old from Ghana. Each of his defeats came when he left his home country, both via split decision, one to the 8-0 Alessandro Trabucco in France in May and the other to the 25-4-1 Steven Wilcox in Toronto, Canada, in December.

Thursday, January 30: Deonte Walker vs. Eduardo Reis (BXNG TV)

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).

Headlining at The District in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, are welterweights Walker and Reis.

Walker, 17-1 (16 KOs), is a 24-year-old who lives in nearby Sioux City, Iowa. He lost in his third pro fight, back in December 2022, but has been rebuilding since against nondescript opposition. Walker has been a pro for less than three years and has been very active, fighting 11 times in 2024.

Reis, 25-12 (19 KOs), is a 35-year-old from Brazil. At 5-foot-6, he is six inches shorter than Walker and is also naturally lighter, fighting much of his career at lightweight and below. Reis had an extended six-fight losing streak from 2020 into 2023, including stoppage losses to Robson Conceicao, Alan Garcia and Feargal McCrory. Reis returned in September after a 17-month layoff, arriving at welterweight and outpointing the 29-7-2 Brandon Berry.

Friday, January 31: George Liddard vs. Derrick Osaze (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (7 p.m. GMT).

Liddard, 10-0 (6 KOs), is a 22-year-old middleweight prospect from Billericay, England. He’ll be headlining at the Indigo at The O2 in London. Liddard fought five times in 2024, including a December victory in which he knocked down the 29-2-1 Omar Nguale Ilunga three times in 92 seconds.

Osaze, 13-2 (3 KOs), is a 31-year-old from Nottingham. Both of his defeats came against recognizable names – a points loss to Tyler Denny in 2021 and a second-round TKO in his last appearance, against Denzel Bentley in August. That means Osaze will be a good measuring stick for Liddard’s development.

Friday, January 31: Muslim Gadzhimagomedov vs. Thabiso Mchunu (IBA Boxing YouTube page)

The broadcast begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time (4:30 p.m. GMT).

This is Gadzhimagomedov’s second defense of his WBA bridgerweight title. It will be the main event at the International Boxing Center in Moscow, Russia.

Gadzhimagomedov earned a silver medal in the 2020/2021 Olympics as a heavyweight, the amateur equivalent to professional boxing’s cruiserweights. He won the vacant WBA bridgerweight title in July, stopping the 12-2-1 Zhaoxin Zhang in four rounds. Gadzhimagomedov defended it in October with a shutout of the 22-5-1 Leon Harth. Including a pair of IBA pro fights that BoxRec lists separately, Gadzhimagomedov – a 28-year-old from Krasnodar, Russia – is 7-0 (3 KOs).

Mchunu, a 36-year-old from South Africa, is a former cruiserweight contentender who is 23-7 (13 KOs). He fell short in both of his previous title fights, knocked out in nine rounds by Oleksandr Usyk in 2016 and defeated via split decision by Ilunga Makabu in January 2022. Mchunu then spent nearly 26 months away before returning last March, dropping a split decision to Yamil Alberto Peralta.

Saturday, February 1: Adam Azim vs. Sergey Lipinets (Peacock in the U.S./Sky Sports in the U.K.)

The broadcast begins at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (8 p.m. GMT).

Azim, a rising junior welterweight prospect, headlines at Wembley Arena and will be testing his developmental progress against Lipinets, whose only defeats have come against familiar names.

Coincidentally, both are coming off wins over opponents named Davies.

Azim, 12-0 (9 KOs), is a 22-year-old from Slough, England. In October, he scored an eighth-round knockout over his longtime friend, Ohara Davies.

Lipinets, 18-3-1 (13 KOs), is a 35-year-old originally from Kazakhstan and now living in California. He briefly held a world title at 140lbs from 2017 until 2018, losing it to Mikey Garcia via unanimous decision. Lipinets then moved up to welterweight and notched three wins, including a stoppage of Lamont Peterson, before fighting to a draw with Custio Clayton. 

That helped land Lipinets a fight with Jaron “Boots” Ennis in April 2021; Lipinets was put away in six rounds. Since then, Lipinets moved back down to junior welterweight and hasn’t been very active. He stopped Omar Figueroa in eight rounds in August 2022, was outpointed by Michel Rivera in November 2023 and then won a decision over Robbie Davies Jr. last May.

The undercard includes super middleweight prospect Callum Simpson, 16-0 (11 KOs), against Elvis Ahorgah, 13-2 (12 KOs). This is a very quick turnaround for Simpson, who just took out Steed Woodall in two rounds on January 11.

Saturday, February 1: Damian Knyba vs. Andrzej Wawrzyk (BXNG TV)

The broadcast begins at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (11 p.m. GMT).

The main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, features unbeaten heavyweight Knyba against Wawrzyk, whose name may be recognizable to hardcore fans.

Both men are Polish, which should make for a fun atmosphere in a venue that also hosted sizable Polish crowds in the past for Tomasz Adamek.

Knyba, 14-0 (8 KOs), is a 6-foot-7 big man currently signed with Top Rank. The 29-year-old fought just once in 2024, a third-round technical knockout of the 16-6 Richard Lartey Harrison in November.

Wawrzyk, 34-4 (20 KOs), is a 37-year-old who stands 6-foot-5. His defeats came against Alexander Povektin (TKO3 in 2013), the 3-4-2 Michal Boloz (KO2 in 2022), Kubrat Pulev (UD10 in 2023) and Harrison (KO4 in April 2024), which means Knyba is facing a guy knocked out by the guy he just knocked out.

Also on this show: Former bantamweight titleholder Miyo Yoshida, 17-5 (0 KOs), who was deposed by Shurretta Metcalf in October, will face the 5-5 Beata Dudek.

Sunday, February 2: Claressa Shields vs. Danielle Perkins (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (1 a.m. GMT).

Shields, one of the best of women’s boxing, is headlining at home at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, where she will face Perkins in a fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship.

The fight will be held at a catch-weight of 180 pounds. Shields, 15-0 (3 KOs), was previously the undisputed champ at 160 and 154 pounds, as well as a former titleholder at 168. She weighed just shy of 175 for her second-round drubbing of Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse in July. 

Perkins, 5-0 (2 KOs), meanwhile, was closer to 200 for her three fights in 2020 and 2021. She then came back lighter after a three-year break, at 178 for a win last March and just slightly above 175 for a victory in July.

Here are a few more caveats:

Shields’ win over Lepage-Joanisse was for the WBC heavyweight title and the vacant WBO light heavyweight title. That is because, in women’s boxing, the WBC goes from super middleweight straight to heavyweight, with anything above 168 pounds being considered a heavyweight bout.

That WBC heavyweight title will be on the line Sunday. So too will the vacant IBF, WBA and WBO belts.

The rankings in these heavier weight classes are very shallow in women’s boxing. For example, the IBF only has two women ranked at heavyweight in the entire world, and six at light heavyweight. The WBA has never had a heavyweight division before but created one for this fight.

But fighters need to fight. Shields cannot control what little is out there for her and is seeking to make the most of what is available. 

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter and . He is the co-host of the . David’s book, “,” is available on Amazon.