Former IBF super middleweight Caleb Plant says David Benavidez is very “nervous” in the build-up to their fight on March 25th, and he feels that it’s gotten to the point where it’s going to cause him to make careless mistakes when the two meet on Showtime PPV at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) noted that Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) was studdering during their kick-off press conference and needed to read a speech from his phone that he believes was written out for him by his controlling father, Jose Benavidez Sr.
The winner of the Plant vs. Benavidez fight could potentially face undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez next year. If Canelo chooses not to fight the winner, he will need to give up his WBC belt because it’s already been two years since Benavidez became his mandatory, and the World Boxing Council has been glacially slow about ordering the fight for some reason.
If Plant defeats Benavidez on March 25th, he will be very vocal about the WBC ordering Canelo to defend against him. He won’t let Canelo swerve him like many believe he’s been doing with Benavidez for the last two years.
“I don’t know what his deal is, but I think he’s nervous, and he feels he’s got a real fight on his hands. He’s never had a fight like this before, and he better come right,” said Caleb Plant to ABN Sports Media about David Benavidez.
“He’s supposed to say he’s going to knock me out. The only thing is, he should be able to say that. He shouldn’t have to read from his phone to say that. So I don’t know if his daddy wrote a speech for him or what.
“All the things he’s saying and all the things he’s doing, it’s either for the cameras, or his daddy told him to say that because that’s who runs the show over there. His daddy runs the show.
“His dad tells him what to say, his dad tells him when to be quiet, his dad tells him what to do. His dad tells him what to do over here. On my team, I’m running the show.
“Again, he sounded real nervous up there just studdering a bunch, but come fight night, he had better not be studdering.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me. His dad is the one that does all the interviews,” said Plant when told that Benavidez’s dad, Jose Sr, did most of the speaking during the kickoff press conference.
“His dad is in interviews more than you see David. I’m not sure if anyone is keeping up with this, but his dad tags me in every post. So I would consistently keep going to his page because he keeps tagging me.
“As I kept going, every time I would go to his page, his followers would go like 10 or 15,000 every time I would go to his page. His dad isn’t doing anything significant enough in his life to get all of those overnight, and I noticed he’s buying followers.
“I don’t know which man his age or his position in life would care about followers. He has more followers than David. David has like 311, and he has 330,000. What is he doing in his life that is significant enough to keep getting all those followers?
“I think he has ‘little man’ syndrome. He wants to be in the spotlight so bad. That’s why he talks for David. That’s why he’s all up in the interviews. That’s why even at the press conferences, he’s talking for him. That’s why he’s buying followers like a little kid because he wants to be the man so bad.
“He’s trying to live through his son. He’s trying to talk for his son. My dad don’t talk for me. My dad don’t talk for me or buy Instagram followers,” said Plant.
