BENAVIDEZ CALLS OUT ALVAREZ
Saturday Night, 26 year old David Benavidez (26W-0L-23KO’s) put his WBC Interim World Super Middleweight belt on the line against the sly Caleb Plant (22W-1L-13KO’s) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight generated bad blood between the 2, which led to anticipation for their bout. As soon as the fight was made, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was brought up as a possible opponent for the winner, which added more drama to the already turbulent war of words.
This fight was good for the sport because we had an undefeated power puncher vs a slick defensive boxer who has one loss that came by the hands of Alvarez, which doesn’t look too bad considering Alvarez is viewed by many as one of the best around, and the fact that Plant schooled Alvarez for 99% of the fight, and was winning on all three scorecards, until he was caught by a power shot that ended the fight in the 11th. Caleb even won his last fight on October 15th against Anthony Dirrell, where he landed a crushing left-hook that put Anthony to sleep before his body hit the canvas; I’d say it was a good statement if he wanted to keep his name in the mix.
So, we have Benavidez who wants to fight the élite in the division and Plant wanting another chance at finishing what he started, this fight was as important as it gets for both men.
The fight started off as expected, with Plant boxing, moving, and clenching when Benavidez closed the distance; pretty much the same gameplan he used in the Canelo fight. Unlike in the Canelo fight, Plant seemed to gas pretty early and got caught in ill-advised exchanges with the bruiser that slowly wore him down to the point where he was no longer moving at all the last round and a half and took repeated punishment. Benavidez won the fight via unanimous decision with scores of 113-115, 112-116, 111-117.
It was a good fight and both men fought with everything they had but Benavidez was simply too aggressive and Plant was unable to land anything that made him second guess his approach; he simply walked him down and bruised his face until his hand was raised after the 12th round ended.
In the post-fight interview, Benavidez said he respects Alvarez but the fans have called for the fight between them, so that’s the fight he wants, and stated it could happen in September of this year.
We will all have to wait until after Alvarez’s next fight against John Ryder on May 6th, assuming he wins, and then see if he wants the fight or if he moves up in weight to possibly have a rematch against Dmitrii Bivol.
Saturday was a great night of boxing and I enjoyed all the fights that aired on Showtime PPV, and it ended with a contest that has implications of what could happen in the near future. Hats off to both Benavidez for the win, and to Plant for showing a warrior’s heart!
