Interim WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is hoping to keep the walls closing in on the reluctant 168-lb undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez by defeating Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant next May.
Benavidez, 25, picked the month that he’s hoping to face the former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (22-1, 13 KOs), but thus far, the 30-year-old ‘Sweethands’ has been surprisingly quiet about the idea of fighting him next.
Instead of using his moment in the spotlight to call out Benavidez after his ninth round knockout win over 37-year-old veteran Anthony Dirrell on October 15th, Plant spoke in vague terms, merely saying that he wants to fight the best competition.
“I think this fight builds it up a lot more to make mine and Caleb’s fight that much more exciting,” said David Benavidez to Fighthype, alluding to Caleb Plant’s ninth round knockout win over Anthony Dirrell.
Given that Plant referred to Dirrell as one of the best, that could mean that he intends to fight another beatable contender rather than risk his scalp fighting Benavidez.
At this point, many boxing fans believe both Plant and Canelo want no part of fighting ‘The Mexican Monster’ Benavidez, so they’ll avoid him like the plague.
“I have [Jose] Uzcategui in January. After that, I think that’s the fight that’s going to happen in May,” Benavidez said about the Plant fight.
With the interest that Plant got from the boxing world from his knockout of Dirrell, PBC will likely steer him to gentle waters and keep him far, far away from Benavidez.
Plant arguably has a better chance of getting a rematch with Canelo Alvarez than Benavidez does of getting a fight against the golden-haired star.
Canelo knows he can beat Plant already after stopping him in the 11th round last November, so he’ll have no qualms about fighting him again, as long as Sweethands gets a halfway decent victory over a live body.
If Plant can beat one of these contenders, Canelo will give him a rematch, but only because he knows he can beat him:
- Daniel Jacobs
- Edgar Berlanga
- Rocky Fielding
- Ali Akhmedov
- Shane Mosley Jr
What’s interesting is that when Benavidez knocked out Dirrell, he didn’t get the same excitement from fans. It’s so routine for Benavidez to knock out his opposition that fans don’t get nearly as excited as they do when Plant scores a KO.
Before his fight with Dirrell, Plant had mentioned Benavidez & Jermall Charlo as guys that he had planned on fighting.
Sadly, when interviewed immediately after the fight and at the post-fight press conference, Plant conveniently chose not to mention Benavidez or Charlo, which could mean that he never had any plans on fighting either of them. In other words, it was a case of clout chasing to get fans excited about his fight with Dirrell.
“First things first. We got to take care of Uzcategui to get to the fight in May,” said Benavidez. “In my fight with Dirrell, at the end of the fourth round, I began to take over. With him [Plant] and Dirrell, it was more of a boxing fight.”
Plant had a heck of a time with Dirrell until knocking him out with a left hook in the ninth. The fight looked even until the moment that Plant knocked out Dirrell with a left hook.
