Benavidez-Plant grudge match comes to a head Saturday in ring
Top super middleweights, who detest each other, finally set to fight
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The animosity between super middleweights David Benavidez and Caleb Plant has been brewing for years and now they will finally get to lay hands on each other.
Benavidez, a two-time WBC titleholder and the current interim titlist, will meet former IBF titleholder Plant in a much-anticipated fight that headlines a Premier Boxing Champions card on Saturday (Showtime PPV, PPV.com, 9 p.m. ET, $74.99) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The two have trash talked each other for years, had a curse-filled kickoff news conference as they continued to assert their hatred for each other, and it’s been more of the same in numerous interviews and comments during the build up to the fight, which will stamp the winner No. 2 in the division behind undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez, who knocked out Plant in the 11th round in November 2021 to unify all four belts.
But why exactly do Benavidez and Plant, who both own stoppage victories over former two-time titlist Anthony Dirrell, have such disdain for each other — so much so that Benavidez said he won’t even shake Plant’s hand after the fight.
“Definitely not,” Benavidez told Fight Freaks Unite about any post-fight handshake or respect. “I don’t want anything to do with him. After I beat his ass there’s not going to be any handshake. There’ll be none of that. It might sound a little cruel and it might sound a little rude but it is what it is. Sometimes you’re gonna get those people in life that you don’t like.”
Benavidez couldn’t put his finger on the exact reason he has such bad feelings toward Plant — just that he does and they are intense.
“Put it simply, it’s like the first day you go to school, and you see a kid, and you already don’t like each other, and you know that you are going to fight one day,” Benavidez said. “That’s basically the best way I can explain it. It’s also about him being one of the top super middleweights while I’m a top super middleweight. He just has something about him that he has this attitude like he’s better than everybody, the way he treats people.
“He tries to play the role of the victim and the good guy in front of these cameras, but the people that really know him know he’s really not like that. He’s honestly a piece of shit to be honest with you. But now that we’re close to the fight, the trash talk has continued. But this is cool. The fans know we don’t like each other and we’ve had this brewing grudge and rivalry for a long time.
“I’m very excited for this. It’s a big opportunity. I’ve been asking for it. It’s even sweeter because me and Caleb Plant don’t like each other. He talks a lot. I talk a lot too. The build up to this fight has been good too because there’s genuine hatred. He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him. This is definitely a genuine grudge match.”
‘It is personal for me,’ — Caleb Plant
‘He’s honestly a piece of shit,’ — David Benavidez
They had more words with each other and intense face off at Thursday’s fight-week news conference and Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs), 26, of Phoenix, who will be defending the interim belt for the first time, made a prediction.
“I’m gonna break Caleb’s jaw on Saturday night, by the sixth round,” said Benavidez, the aggressive puncher in the fight compared to Plant’s style as a more skillful boxer.
Plant (22-1, 13 KOs), 30, of Las Vegas, also acknowledges his dislike for Benavidez. He came off an 11-month layoff following his loss to Alvarez to score a spectacular one-punch knockout of Dirrell in October and then sought out the fight with Benavidez.
“Boxing is not a job for me,” Plant said. “Boxing is my life. I’m not trying to let anyone disrupt that or get in the way of that. So it is personal for me. As far as David Benavidez, that (bad blood) started out as us agreeing to disagree about who’s better. Over time I think it’s developed into something more. Once you start bringing up someone’s family, that’s a different level. Some things you don’t come back from and for me that’s not reversible.”
Despite the poor feelings personally, Benavidez and Plant at least have shown grudging respect for the other man’s ability in the ring.
“I don’t like Caleb Plant as a person but as a boxer he’s pretty good,” Benavidez said.
Said Plant: “I never said David’s a bad fighter because I have no interest in fighting bad fighters. I want to fight good fighters and make big fights. This is the best fight that could be made in the division.”
Benavidez-Plant PPV lineup
Super middleweights: David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) vs. Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KOs), 12 rounds, for Benavidez’s WBC interim title
Junior middleweights: Jesus Ramos (19-0, 15 KOs) vs. Joey Spencer (16-0, 10 KOs), 10 rounds
Lightweights: Chris Colbert (16-1, 6 KOs) vs. Jose Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KOs), 10 rounds
Welterweights: Cody Crowley (21-0, 9 KOs) vs. Abel Ramos (27-5-2, 21 KOs), 12 rounds, WBC title eliminator
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Benavidez-Plant photo: Esther Lin/Showtime
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I just don’t understand why in the world Showtime would charge $75 for this fight. That seems excessive to me.
Benny's bad tempered rants about Plant have been way over the top - totally unnecessary.
Something else that concerns me about Benavidez is that his trainers brought in Memo Heredia for this training camp - I really don't like the sound of that for obvious reasons.
Hopefully this'll be a good fight and, if the judges are needed, the winner will deserve it.