David Morrell received much-needed rounds of professional resistance during a tougher-than-expected light heavyweight debut against veteran Radivoje Kalajdzic on the Terence Crawford-Ismail Madrimov undercard on Saturday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) scored a unanimous 12-round decision, winning by tallies of 118-110 and 117-111 (twice). He had hoped to stop Kalajdzic, as unified champ Artur Beterbiev did (via fifth-round KO) in 2019, but the rounds of experience should serve him well as he tries to position himself as a viable opponent for the Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol winner and David Benavidez.

Prior to Saturday's bout, Morrel's first of 2024, The Ring'sNo. 2-rated super middleweighthad blown out his 2023 opposition, Yamaguchi Falcao (KO 1) and Sena Agbeko (TKO 2). The 26-year-old Cuban carried the confidence of a KO artist into the opening rounds against Kalajdzic, beating the former title challenger to the punch with a faster, more fluid offense, but the 33-year-old Serbian was not overwhelmed or even intimidated, as he fired back while on the back foot.

Kalajdzic (29-3, 21 KOs) got through some wobbly and rough moments as Morrell pressed him to the ropes and into corners, remained composed and fired back with crisp jabs, one-two combinations, select body shots and a sneaky counter straight right that gradually chipped away at the younger man's confidence.

The Florida-based underdog loosened up in the middle rounds, struck back with authority, especially with his straight right, and competed with Morrell down the stretch of the fight.

However, while a frustrated Morrell allowed Kalajdzic to almost match his punch output (and had to hear it from his corner headed up by hall-of-fame-worthy trainer Ronnie Shields between rounds), he had set the pace of the fight, was the aggressor throughout, and landed the more effective punches.

Morrell closed strong, clearly winning Round 12.

The Minnesota-based southpaw will be a welcome player in the 175-pound division.

The Crawford-Madrimov PPV was carried on DAZN, ESPN+ and PPV.COM.