By Dan Ambrose: David Benavidez has officially confirmed his fight against Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant for early 2023.
Moments before, the former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) had revealed to his fans that he’d already signed the contract to face Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) in the first quarter of next year.
It goes without saying that Plant vs. Benavidez will be a huge pay-per-view level fight on SHOWTIME or FOX Sports. It’s a fight that both guys need to take their respective careers.
Plant had seemed to be dragging his feet for the last two years about taking the fight with the hard-hitting Benavidez, but the tipping point may have come when he realized that unless he took this risky match, he wasn’t going to get a rematch with Canelo Alvarez.
There’s no way that Canelo would entertain a second fight with Plant without him beating a high-caliber fighter like Benavidez or, at the very least, the inactive Jermall Charlo.
Considering that Jermall hasn’t fought in 17 months and is expected to be out for the remainder of the year, that leaves only Benavidez for Plant to fight.
Of course, if Plant didn’t care about getting a second lucrative payday against Canelo, he could save himself a lot of aggravation and return to fighting the same level of opposition that he’d been doing against the likes of Anthony Dirrell, Vincent Feigenbutz, Caleb Truax and Mike Lee.
“It’s official, Benavidez vs. Plant! You Can’t hide from me anymore I’ll see you soon 😈. @calebplant,” said Benavidez said on his Instagram account tonight.
While this isn’t the fight that boxing fans have wanted to see from Benavidez, it’s the best he can do, given that Canelo hasn’t shown a desire to share the ring with him.
Moreover, if Canelo’s recent comments about not wanting to fight Mexican fighters are true, then would rule out Benavidez ever getting a chance to fight him, even though he’s technically not Mexican. He’s American.
If Plant fights as he did against Anthony Dirrell, Benavidez will need to chase Sweethands around the ring if he wants to land his shots because he will be as slippery as a greased pig inside the ring.
