There were no hugs, no smiles, and not a single nice word said about each other during the build-up. Simply put, both David Benavidez and Caleb Plant hated one another.
They threw shots on their respective social media accounts and nearly got it on outside the ring. Just a few short months ago, they finally laced up their gloves and punched each other in the face.
For the first few rounds, the slick-hitting former champ was on cruise control. He hit Benavidez whenever he wanted while using his legs to keep himself out of harm’s way. It was the perfect game plan. Well, other than the fact that his gas tank couldn’t keep up.
Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) fell apart in the second half. The 31-year-old went from boxing on his toes and moving, to plodding around the ring flat-footed, making him essentially target practice for the WBC interim super middleweight champion.
It was the same old song and dance for Plant roughly a year and a half ago. In November of 2021, he attempted to become the division’s first undisputed titlist against Canelo Alvarez. But, much like in his showdown against Benavidez, Plant began to fade in the second half, leading to his first defeat via 11th-round stoppage.
Plant has some rebuilding to do. He’s hoping that he’ll return to the ring before the year wraps up and eventually take on Jermall Charlo. Those are Plant’s immediate goals. And while he’s confident that he’ll pick up those wins and get his career back on track, he’s just as convinced that he’ll see both Alvarez and Benavidez down the line. Although it may not happen particularly soon, considering how close those pair of losses were, Plant believes that those sequels simply need to happen.
“Me and Canelo need to run it back, me and David we need to run it back.”
By Hans Themistode