Benavidez vs Plant: The Animus Is Real

The animus in the air for the Benavidez and Vs Plant promotion is real.

The former two-time super middleweight champion David Benavidez provided a glimpse of it when his dislike of Caleb Plant developed into raging hatred as seen in the premiere episode of Showtime’s All Access series.

Benavidez and Plant will square off in a highly-anticipated 168-pound grudge bout March 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Benavidez, who was overweight as a child, has implied his fight with Plant is personal because the former 168-pound titleholder continues to lambast him for his past transgressions by calling him a “fat boy.”

The 26-year-old has twice lost the WBC super middleweight title outside of the ring. In 2018, he was stripped of his belt after testing positive for cocaine. After regaining the championship with a ninth-round TKO of Anthony Dirrell in September 2019 in Los Angeles, the undefeated knockout artist came in nearly three pounds overweight for a voluntary defense against Roamer Alexis Angulo in August 2020.

Benavidez acknowledges he may not have the most elegant-looking body for a boxer. But he also points out that Plant talks a lot for a fighter with six-pack abs and relatively low KO numbers.

Benavidez says abs don’t equal concussive power

“I mean, I still deal with it to this day (being called fat),” Benavidez said. “Even Caleb Plant’s talking sh!t, saying ‘fat boy this, fat boy that.’ But, at the end of the day, if all these dudes are cut up, they’re all marked up, and they don’t have no f—ing knockouts.

“And then you go to the opposite side and you got someone that’s a fat boy, supposedly. He has 26 fights, and he has 23 knockouts. So, you tell me who’s doing it right? I don’t care what people say.”

The winner of Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) vs. Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) will become the WBC mandatory challenger to undisputed super middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.