By Jack Tiernan: Caleb Plant vs. David Benavidez, winner of their clash in early next year, will be the WBC mandatory for champion Canelo Alvarez.
Earlier today, Benavidez and Plant informed their followers on Instagram that they’ll be fighting next. It should be interesting to see how this fight plays out if the two battle in early next year.
Plant has a technical advantage in boxing skills, but Benavidez is bigger, stronger, faster, and younger. Caleb is coming off of a shock ninth round knockout win over Anthony Dirrell on October 15th, but that wasn’t an indication of him suddenly developing power.
It was more of a case of Dirrell getting wreckless and leaving himself open to a perfect left hook.
The former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) took credit for the fight happening, saying, “I went and made it happen. Contract signed. See you early next year.”
Ideally, Canelo (58-2-2, 39 KOs) will do the right thing and defend against the Plant-Benavidez winner without the World Boxing Council needing to step in and order the fight and strip him of his WBC title if he refuses to face them.
We know that Canelo isn’t afraid to fight Plant, 30, because he not only fought him but also knocked him out in the 11th round last November.
It’s believed that Canelo wants no part in fighting Benavidez. So if he wins against Plant, Canelo will either continue to ignore him or vacate the WBC if he’s not stripped from him first.
If Canelo chooses not to face the winner for whatever reason, it will be interesting to see if the WBC finally orders him to defend against the mandatory.
Goodness knows, Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs), the current WBC mandatory, has been waiting two years for a title shot.
During that time, the WBC hasn’t made a move to order Canelo to defend against Benavidez, and it’s unclear what their reasoning is for failing to do that.
“I think Caleb Plant is a pussy. That’s all I think about him,” said David Benavidez to K.O. Artist Sports when asked to give him thoughts on Caleb Plant’s recent knockout win over Anthony Dirrell on October 15th.
It’s not a major revelation that Benavidez views Plant negatively because he feels that he should have fought him already. Plant has a different view. He says he was ready to fight Benavidez in the past, but nothing came of it.