By Matt Lieberman: David Benavidez already on weight for his fight this Saturday night on March 13th against Ronald Ellis in a Premier Boxing Champions event at the Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Conn.
Benavidez-Ellis will be fighting in a WBC 168-lb title eliminator, with the winner of the fight to be mandatory to WBC super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Benavidez wants to grab the WBC mandatory spot so that he can force Canelo to make a decision on whether to fight him or vacate, which would confirm what he’s been saying all along about the Mexican star having ducked him.
Earlier on Wednesday, former WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) weighed in at 168-pounds, two days ahead of Friday’s weigh-in.
Benavidez, 24, posted a photo of himself weighing in on Instagram to reveal to the boxing that he won’t miss weight as he did for his last contest against Roamer Alexis Angulo last August.
Coming in heavy for that fight cost Benavidez his WBC 168-lb title, which is now in Canelo Alvarez’s possession.
Benavidez is hoping to put in the kind of performance to show the difference between him and the other top fighters in the super middleweight division.
“I’m extremely happy with how camp’s went, and the only thing left to do is put on a great performance and get a great stoppage victory,” Benavidez said to Yahoo Sports News.
Unless Benavidez eases off and packs on some more pounds before Friday, he should be able to make weight and be ready to go on Saturday on Showtime Boxing against Ellis (18-1-2, 12 KOs).
Fighting inside the bubble
“The Mohegan Sun, it’s a great venue, I love everything about it, but without fans, it’s weird,” said Benavidez. “I think I make more noise in the sparring sessions than in the fights at the Mohegan Sun.
“This is a different element that is missing from a fight that actually makes a fight. I don’t know if you’ve been at any of the fights at the Bubble and stuff, but it is different. I feel like this is what we have to go through.
“We have to adapt to stuff. Hopefully, this is one of the last bubbles I fight in because I miss the fans, I miss interacting with the fans. I miss hearing them cheer, and I miss hearing them go crazy when I land a big shot and stop somebody. Hopefully, things go back to normal soon,” said Benavidez.
It won’t be long before Benavidez can fight in front of fans once again, as the majority of the U.S population is expected to be vaccinated by the end of the summer.
Benavidez needs to focus on beating Ellis on Saturday and then staying busy by fighting the best possible opponents.
The fights that Benavidez is targeting against Caleb Plant and Canelo Alvarez aren’t possible in 2021, unfortunately, as those two fighters have other plans.
Realistically, Benavidez has to settle for fighting one of the top contenders like Danny Jacobs, John Ryder, or Callum Smith.
Benavidez, on his way to Connecticut
“On our way to Connecticut on the pj! I want to give a special thanks to Al Haymon for making this all possible. But it’s fight week, so it’s time to show out on Saturday,” said Benavidez on Instagram.
“I’ve been trying to get the fight made. It’s not my fault. Caleb Plant is the one that doesn’t want to get it made,” said Benavidez to Fighthub. “He said he’s waiting for Canelo.
“We honestly could have fought this time when he fought Caleb Truax. He was in camp; I was in camp.
“Why would he go up against a guy that Anthony Dirrell knocked out. I should be #1 to fight for his title. It would have been an interesting fight; it would have been a great fight.
“I feel like that’s the type of fight that our company needed. He doesn’t want to fight. He tries to talk all this s*** and tries to act like he’s the best and he’s not scared of anybody, but why hasn’t he taken the fight?
“As I said, if I were such an easy target, people would have taken me out already. Caleb Plant will have taken me out if it’s as easy as he says it is. I mean, he’s his own boss.
“He can make the fight happen, but he doesn’t want to make it happen. With his performance against Caleb Truax, he fought a 39-years-old guy?
“That’s an over-the-hill guy that has been knocked out by a guy [Anthony Dirrell] that I stopped. I don’t know what to say.
“Some people say it wasn’t a good performance, and some people say it was a spectacular performance [from Plant]. I didn’t really see anything that I was impressed about.
“If you can’t stop a guy that isn’t throwing anything at you, and who is receiving all the shots, and you can hit him with every single shot. You can’t stop him?
“That says something about yourself. You think your the best like you say your the best. He says he has better speed than anybody, and he has better angles than anybody.
“He’s supposedly the pinnacle of boxing, but he can’t stop a fighter [Truax] that is 39-years-old, that has been knocked out multiple times. That just says it all by itself right there.
“Tell him to sign the contract,” said Benavidez about him wanting Caleb Plant to sign the contract to face him.
IBF super middleweight champion Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will wait for September before he gets in the ring again for his unification fight with Alvarez.
That’s a move that pretty much any fighter would make if they were in a similar situation as Plan, including Benavidez.
You can’t trash Plant for not wanting to risk losing out on the Canelo fight because the money he’s going to make will be life-changing.
There are a lot of other excellent fighters Benavidez can face later this year that are just as talented as Plant, so he shouldn’t become too fixated on him.
Plant is just a belt-holder like Billy Joe Saunders, and there’s not much Benavidez would gain from fighting him that he wouldn’t get by facing someone like Edgar Berlanga.
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