Caleb Plant taunts Benavidez with grave digger routine

By Boxing News - 03/08/2023 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant went into his grave digger routine during his workout on Tuesday to taunt David Benavidez ahead of their fight this month on Showtime PPV on March 25th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The fans ate it up, enjoying Plant clowning around and giving them a sample of what he has in store for the 26-year-old Benavidez.

The objective of the former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) is to anger the highly emotional Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) to the point where he’s going to lose control during the fight, and start swinging wildly, leaving himself open to being countered.

We saw what happened to Anthony Dirrell when he lost his cool in the ninth round and ran right into a big left hook from Plant last October at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Dirrell got knocked out cold, and Plant took advantage of the situation by performing his grave-digging routine.

Benavidez will have to fight in a more disciplined manner against Plant than he’s been showing in his recent bouts because this is a much more skilled fighter than the lower-level opposition he’s been facing.

If Benavidez loses this fight, he’ll have blown his chance of getting a fight against Canelo Alvarez before he retires. Even with Benavidez posting a 26-0 record, he’s not gotten the opportunity to fight Canelo, but if he loses to Plant, that’s all the excuse that Alvarez needs to shun him for good.

“I believe Plant has every tool needed to make history,” said Bernard Hopkins to Fighthype. “I’m not backing off. I’m going with Plant, and a lot of people are going to be surprised.

“They should be based on the odds and on based on what Benavidez has done. I like a hard, gritty fight, and Plant is starving right now. I got to go with the starving fighter right now, and he’s got talent along with the growling stomach.

“I think he wants Benavidez so mad and angry that he wants to come in there and get the knockout that he normally gets. It’s not something unusual or uncommon, and I think Plant is training to where it’s going to be the most physical fight of his career, and it will be.

“Plant is going to shock the world. This is going to be like Tyson Fury’s first fight with Wilder,” said Hopkins.

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