David Morrell regrets that he didn’t follow the game plan trainer Ronnie Shields designed for him to win the biggest fight of his career.

The Cuban southpaw is still satisfied with much of what he proved Feb. 1 to David Benavidez and anyone else that doubted he could compete at the elite level. Morrell demonstrated he could take the unbeaten Benavidez’s power and gave the WBC light heavyweight champion problems.

Benavidez called it the most difficult fight of his career at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

“I showed the world Benavidez isn’t the monster that they said he was,” Morrell told The Ring of his 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat. “He said he was gonna retire me, said he was gonna knock me out quickly. He didn’t give me my respect coming into the fight. I was kind of dismissed. The boxing world probably believed it. I proved that one, Benavidez is not ‘The [Mexican] Monster,’ and two, that I belong at this level. I showed I belong at the top and could go toe-to-toe any time.”

Miami’s Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) will try to apply what he learned from his first professional defeat July 12, when he’ll box unbeaten Russian Imam Khataev (10-0, 9 KOs) at Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York. Morrell-Khataev is part of a Ring card that will include bouts between super middleweights Edgar Berlanga (23-1, 18 KOs) and Hamzah Sheeraz (21-0-1, 17 KOs) and lightweights Shakur Stevenson (23-0, 11 KOs) and William Zepeda (33-0, 27 KOs).

Berlanga, Sheeraz, Stevenson and Zepeda attended a press conference Thursday in Manhattan to promote an event that’ll take place at a tennis venue in Queens where U.S. Open matches are played each summer. Stevenson, a three-weight world champion from nearby Newark, New Jersey, will make a mandated defense of his WBC lightweight title against Mexico’s Zepeda, the WBC interim champ.

Like Morrell, Khataev,. 30, has limited professional experience. The 2021 Olympian wants to test himself, however, against a more proven opponent, much the way Morrell did when he battled Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs).

“I learned a lotta things,” Morrell said of facing Benavidez. “It was a great experience. But one of the biggest takeaways, the biggest lessons, was sticking to the game plan that we worked on from Day One in camp and executing that on fight night. And I’m gonna look to do that on July 12th.”

Morrell is The Ring’s eighth-rated light heavyweight contender, two spots atop the No. 10 Khataev.

Morrell, 27, hopes a victory over Khataev and several more light heavyweights eventually leads to a rematch with Phoenix’s Benavidez. He admitted Benavidez beat him, though Morrell believes the scorecards submitted by judges Patricia Morse Jarman (115-111) and Steve Weisfeld (115-111) were more reflective of the competitive nature of their fight than judge Tim Cheatham’s card (118-108).

Morrell was credited with a knockdown in the 11th round, but replays clearly showed their legs got tangled before Benavidez fell to the canvas. Referee Thomas Taylor later deducted a point from Morrell for hitting Benavidez after the bell sounded.

“That night he deserved the victory,” Morrell said. “He was the better man. He came out on top. He deserved the victory for sure. But a lotta people were talking about his power, this and that, but when I was in there it felt normal."