As the fight between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade gets closer and closer, the handlers for David Morrell Jr. are still wondering why they couldn't secure a fight with the "Mexican Monster."

For much of the year, Morrell's team was under the impression that Benavidez's next fight was a clash against the WBA titleholder only to learn that the opponent would be Andrade.

"David Morrell is on everyone's lips and we believed that the fight against Benavidez was possible, but then they went with Demetrius Andrade," Luis DeCubas Sr. of Warriors Boxing told George Ebro. "I do not know what happened. The boxer got cold feet."

Benavidez's promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz of Sampson Boxing, had previously said that a fight with Morrell was very possible.

“I don't want to say it's possible. It is one hundred percent possible,” Lewkowicz had said at the time.

But Benavidez later rejected that notion, arguing that he preferred a fight against Jaime Munguía, before the fight against Andrade finally became official, under the argument that he was a fighter with more influence and popularity than the Cuban.

Morrell is looking to return to the ring by the end of the year or in early 2024.

“Benavidez's father attacked us; he called us cowards. Then I met with him. We shook hands and said the fight was going to happen,” DeCubas added. "Everything was ready. I do not know what happened. Morrell is the Bogeyman of the division. Nobody wants to fight with him, but something big is going to happen, because he is one of the best, if not at the end of the year it will be at the beginning of next.

"We are going to have another fight and wait to see what happens with Benavidez and Andrade, which is an interesting fight because both have never lost. If Andrade gets into the rhythm it will be very difficult to beat him. Benavidez has never fought a guy as difficult as this one, who is always moving. It's not like Morrell, who kills you with one blow, but he is very complicated."