World class boxing returns to Minnesota on Sunday, June 27 as David Morrell, Jr., of Minneapolis, MN by way of Santa Clara, Cuba, defends his World Boxing Association super middleweight title against Mario Abel Cazares, 12-0-0, 5 KOs, of Sinaloa, MX, in a Premier Boxing Champions card at the Minneapolis Armory. Morrell won the Interim WBA title on August 8, 2020 with a unanimous decision over Lennox Allen, 22-1-1 of Brooklyn, NY. He stayed sharp last December 20 with a knockout of Mike Gavroski, 24-4-1 of Lockport, IL. This defense of the title will be Morrell’s first major test. Cazares, who is 30 years old and ranked 15 by the WBA, is fresh off of a technical decision win over former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. While the holder of the WBA championship, designated the “WBA super middleweight Super champion,” is Saul Canelo Alvarez, Morrell is establishing himself as a deserving challenger for supermiddleweight dominance. He was a celebrated amateur champion from Cuba with the talent to fight on the world class level at the very beginning of his professional career. Like recent champions Erislandy Lara and Rances Barthelemy, he broke away from Cuba, where professional sports are illegal, to pursue professional boxing greatness. Having dominated world competition on the Cuban National team, he has proven talented enough to win the WBA belt in only his third fight. His management team has said from the beginning they ultimately want him to fight Alvarez. A dominant and impressive victory Sunday will move him one step closer to such a major fight.
David Morrell, Jr. is only 23 years old. Holding the WBA supermiddleweight regular belt after only 4 professional fights, having taken very little punishment in his career, the 6′-1″ southpaw is looking at a long bright future ahead of him in terms of both financial opportunity and athletic prestige. An impressive victory Sunday night for Morrell can be a great opportunity, also, for the sincere Boxing fan. The locals of the Twin Cities have a supreme opportunity to witness the early progression of a fighter who may make a permanent mark in the annals of Boxing greatness. For those not in the metropolitan area, the fights will be broadcast on national Fox at 7:00 p.m. Central.
Jamal James of Minneapolis, 27-1, who won the Interim WBA welterweight title on August 8, 2020, will return to action in the near future. He and Morrell, who normally train at the Circle of Discipline on 12th Avenue South and Lake Street in Minneapolis, have been training alongside each other at the club’s training camp in Barnum, MN.
