David Benavidez Wants Plant Over Canelo
It really speaks to the depth of a boxer’s discord to hear that fighter say he would rather choose a rivalry fight over a legacy/major payday bout. Yet, while conducting an exclusive interview with Fight Hype, that is exactly what WBC world super middleweight champion David “Red Flag” Benavidez (22-0 19 KO’s) said he would prefer, if given the choice.
Benavidez revealed that he would be quicker to sign a prizefight with IBF world super middleweight champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (20-0, 12 KO’s) than with boxing cashcow WBC middleweight ‘Franchise champion’ Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (53-1-2, 36 KO’s). That is the extent to which Benavidez wants to settle his score with Plant.
BAD BLOOD EQUALS GOOD BUSINESS
Both Plant and Benavidez have remained extremely vocal about their dislike of the other. Luckily, each competitor appears to want to hash things out in the ring with an equal intensity. If this proves to be the case, hopefully we will be able to witness this bout in 2021.
“Maybe Canelo will want to give me an opportunity, I’ll be all for Canelo. Or, I feel like the fight I would want more than that is Caleb Plant. That is a big rivalry between me and him. We really don’t like each other, so that’s a bad blood fight right there.”
“…At the end of the day, I believe that he is a little guy and belongs at 160…I feel like I want to fight that guy and I want to punish him. I want to make an example out of him and that’s exactly what I am going to do. He’s a good counter-boxer, but he has never fought with somebody with the punch output like me, pressure like me, the jab like me, body shots like me.”
NO PATCH-UPS HERE
Beyond wanting to violently shut Sweethands’ mouth, Benavidez believes that a win over Plant would be enough to propel him into being a common household name. Obtaining that glory is just as important as the win itself.
“I feel like that takes me to the next level and also that’s why I want to fight these guys. Unless I fight the best of the best, if I beat Caleb Plant, if I knock him out, I feel like I will become a superstar in that fight. Which I will do, that’s exactly what I will do.”
Yet, even if they have their day in the ring and Benavidez is catapulted to those new professional heights, he still can’t see burying the hatchet with Sweethands.
“No, nah, never! It can just stay in the ring, I won’t look for no problems outside but if he wants to I’ll look for problems too. It’s been too much stuff there, too much stuff that happened and you really can’t do that in some cases.”
By: Bakari Simpson
