By Robert Segal: Caleb Plant doesn’t care that David Benavidez has transformed his physique into a ripped one for their fight this Saturday, March 25th on Showtime PPV at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
As far as Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) is concerned, he’s glad that interim WBC super middleweight champion Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) is finally taking his training seriously enough to get in this kind of shape for their battle on Saturday night.
In many of Benavidez’s fights, he looks like he’s carrying baby fat that he should have shed during training camp but didn’t for some reason.
This time, Benavidez finally did, and that’s good that he’s in the best possible shape for this match-up because if he loses, he won’t have an excuse for not being in the best shape.
Benavidez looks weight drained
With all the weight that the 26-year-old Benavidez has lost during camp, there’s a real possibility that he will get less favorable results than he would have if he had stuck with the same training regimen he had in the past.
During today’s final press conference, Benavidez looked as badly drained as lightweight Devin Haney has in his last two fights. Benavidez looks like he’d aged seven years during this camp, which you see from people who put their bodies through tremendous hardship to lose weight. It appears to age them.
That’s not good for an athlete to age heading into a significant athletic competition like the one Benavidez is undertaking. In contrast, Plant looked great today, appearing bright-eyed, healthy, showing no signs of putting his body through the wringer, and ready to fight at a high level on Saturday night.
Plant ready to risk it all
“I’m willing to risk it all. This is obviously one of the biggest fights that can be made in all of boxing. It’s #1 vs. #2 to move forward to fight for the undisputed, but regardless of what we’re moving forward to face, this fight is still one of the biggest fights,” said Caleb Plant to Fight Hub TV about his clash against David Benavidez on Saturday night.
“I’ve worked extremely hard this camp just like in all my camps. You don’t start working hard when the big moment gets here. You’ve got to stay working hard to get to the big moment and succeed when you get to the big moment.
“We were just talking about how much we like each other,” said Plant when asked what was said between him and Benavidez during their face-off today during the final press conference. That sounds good. He’s supposed to say that.
“When someone is in your face about to whoop that a**, what are you supposed to tell them? He’s saying the things that sound good. But hey, on Saturday night, we’re going to figure it out.
“I don’t know. I can’t answer that,” said Plant when asked if he believed Benavidez would tire out on Saturday night. “On Saturday night, we’re going to get in there when the bell rings, and we’re going to figure it out for sure.
“That’s good for him. He finally got to that big moment, and now he’s doing it right, so that’s good for him,” said Plant when asked about his thoughts on Benavidez’s new ripped physique that he revealed.
Caleb prepared for anything Benavidez brings
“We had a great camp, just echoing off the camp before that for Dirrell. You guys got to see a new and improved Caleb Plant,” said Plant. “He echoes a lot of things that my dad has been telling me and wants me to do.
“Breadman was basically like a taller, darker, more handsome version of my dad. We took some time after the fight, and then we got right back to work. So you’re going to see a better and more improved version of Caleb Plant.
“We’re stacking camps back to back. It’s been a while since I’ve had camps back-to-back. The Canelo fight, and 11 months before that, it was the Truax fight. 11 months before that, it was the Vincent fight. So to get a camp back to back, that’s when you’re going to see the best come out of somebody.
“Against Jose Uzcategui, I got off to a really fast start, and in other fights, I get off to real fast starts, and then there are times when I slow it down. I’ll know when the bell rings when I get in front of him. Whichever way he wants to go, I’m going to be prepared; I’m going to be ready.
“I think you put both of them together, and that would be the sweetest of them all,” said Plant when asked which would be better, humbling David Benavidez or his father, Jose Sr.
“It was my big moment, my big speech. I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave anything out,” said Plant about him reading a prepared speech at the podium during the press conference today.
“Even in the Jose Uzcategui fight in the fourth round, I caught a head-butt, and I caught a bad cut. They like to spin it like it came from a punch and all that.
“Those kinds of things happen in boxing, but you’ve got to be resilient, and you’ve got to bite down. If you want it bad enough, you’ve got to go get it. I’ve dealt with those kinds of moments in my fights, but against high-level fighters. That experience I get to carry into this fight.
“With all that’s been said and all that’s gone on, I know how to channel that to my advantage. This isn’t my first big fight, and I know how to handle it. I’m a professional, and I’ve been doing this for a long time since I was a kid. I’m not just a sparring champion and I’ve won against current and former world champions in sparring like David.
“I’m a Golden Gloves National champion, I’m an Olympic trialist, I’m an Olympic alternate and I have international experience. So I’ve been doing this for a long time at a high level, so I know what to do,” said Plant.
