Caleb Plant not impressed by Canelo’s experience, trashes Benavidez

By Boxing News - 05/22/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones: Caleb Plant lit into Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez on Friday, making it clear that he’s not impressed with either of them. As far as Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) goes, Plant says he doesn’t have a big experience advantage over him as many boxing fans think.

Plant points out that Canelo fought weak opposition in Mexico during the first 30 fights of his career and fought better fighters in the amateur ranks.

Once again, Plant maintains that Canelo is 1-3 in his biggest fights, losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr, Erislandy Lara [2014], and Gennadiy Golovkin [2017].

Officially, Canelo was given a controversial 12 round split decision win over Lara and an equally questionable 12 round draw against Golovkin in their first fight.

What IBF super middleweight champion Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) is making clear is that Canelo isn’t infallible, and he’s definitely someone he can and will beat when they meet up for the undisputed 168-lb championship in September.

Plant says his skillset similar to Lara & Mayweather

“He does have a lot of experience, but he also has two draws,” said Plant to iFL TV about Canelo. “When it comes to him fighting Mayweather, when it comes to him fighting Lara, and when it comes to him fighting GGG, he’s really 1-3 in those fights.

Image: Caleb Plant not impressed by Canelo's experience, trashes Benavidez

“He lost to Floyd, he lost to Lara, and he definitely lost the first GGG fight. Those first 30 fights that he [Canelo] had, where was he fighting at? In Mexico?

“We send people down to Mexico to get wins that can’t get wins over here [in the U.S].

“When he was in his first 30 fights, I was fighting better competition in the amateurs on Team USA, winning the Golden Gloves Nationals and being in the Olympic trials, and becoming an Olympic alternate.

“I fought some better competition than him when he had 20 fights, 30 fights. He does have a lot of experience in bigger fights, but not all those fights mean that he has better experience than me as far as all 56 fights.

“I possess a lot of the same skill-set as Lara and Floyd have, except I’m a lot bigger than them. I’m a full-fledged 168-pounder. I won the Golden Gloves nationals at 178 pounds. So I’m a lot bigger than those guys that gave him a lot of trouble.

“Yeah, that’s the fight that I want,” said Plant about a fight with Canelo. “I’ve said that multiple times. He’s said that as well.”

Plant does have the same skillset as Lara and Mayweather, but he’s bigger and slightly slower. What those guys have going for them that Plant doesn’t is stamina.

Plant has looked tired late in some of his fights, particularly in his match against Jose Uzcategui in 2019.

Plant won that fight by a 12 round unanimous decision, but he struggled during the championship rounds when he faded.

Caleb trashes Benavidez

“He did get dropped by Ronald Gavril, and Jose Uzcategui couldn’t drop me,” said Plant about David Benavidez.

Image: Caleb Plant not impressed by Canelo's experience, trashes Benavidez

“I dropped Jose Uzcategui twice. Him [Benavidez] saying he deserves that fight [against Canelo]. It’s easy to talk about what we deserve, but what we deserve is granted to us by our actions, not our words.

“So for him to say he deserves that fight. I’m sure he’d be in the running for that fight, but he lost his world title to cocaine.

“Then he [Benavidez] got it handed back to him, and then he lost it again on the scales. When you talk about what you deserve, those aren’t blessed through what you say. Those are blessed through actions.

“Thus far, his actions haven’t lived up to what he claims them to be or what he is. When we were trying to make that fight, his manager was saying, ‘We need to wait, we don’t need to make that fight happen. There needs to be more money involved.’

“We were like, ‘Okay,’ and then he loses his belt and then all of a sudden, I’m a ‘P****’ and this and that. When it came time for him to make weight, did he make weight like a man, or did he bow out? He bowed out.

“When it’s time to be a world champion and live up to what you say you are, did he handle his business like a man, or did he sniff, sniff?

“Do you know what I’m saying? Those are just words. I live out what I do by my actions,” said Plant.

Many boxing fans aren’t too happy with the way that Plant turned down a fight with Benavidez. Plant last fought against arguably washed-up 37-year-old Caleb Truax last January.

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Rather than take a fight to stay busy while waiting for the indication fight with Canelo in September, Plant intends on sitting and waiting until then.

Why Plant should fight Benavidez

Plant could make the Canelo fight bigger if he got in the ring and fought former two-time WBC super-middleweight champion Benavidez (24-0, 21 KOs), but he’s failed to make that move.

If Plant were to take that fight with Benavidez, it would set up an important semifinal type of match-up in which the winner would move on to face Canelo in the championship.

Unfortunately, Plant wants no part in taking that fight, even though it would ultimately likely mean more money for him.

Not only would Plant get the payday from the Benavidez clash, but you’d have to assume that his pay would go up for a fight against Canelo in September.

Plant said recently that he thinks $10 million sounds about right for what he should receive for a fight with Canelo. If Plant defeated Benavidez, he would be in a good position to ask for more than $10m.

Of course, there would be risk involved for Plant in facing Benavidez; if he’s the real deal, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to win that fight.

Plant would likely be worried about suffering a cut or some injury in a fight with Benavidez, and that would potentially cause his match with Canelo to be postponed.

With that said, even if Plant had to wait two or three more months to heal before facing Canelo at the of the year, it would still be worth it if it meant that he could make an extra two to five million more.

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