Benavidez Sr. Wants Plant Fight in September
Within the super middleweight division, there has remained an ongoing rivalry between WBC world super middleweight champion David “Red Flag” Benavidez (22-0, 19 KO’s) and IBF world super middleweight champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (20-0, 12 KO’s). The two have barked at one another in numerous interviews, live social media feeds and even had a physical altercation in a rowdy incident caught on film back in 2018.
Similar to his son, Jose Benavidez Sr, Red Flag’s father, also harbors a healthy dislike for Plant. Luckily for the fans, all this open rancor and discord seems to be building toward one explosive bout. In fact, in a recent interview with Fight Hype, Benavidez Sr expressed his interest to sign a contract with Plant next.
“David wants to fight Caleb Plant so bad that he called me and said, ‘Man, make that fight happen. Talk to Al Haymon, talk to Luis Cubas, talk to whoever man, let’s make it happen!’ So like I say, we are just waiting on him. He is trying to say that he wants to fight David. Come on, let’s make this fight, you know, let’s do it! You want that fight, we want that fight, you know in reality he doesn’t want this fight.
…I would love to fight him, at the end of the day he has a belt. He’s a good fighter, you know, and what we’re looking for is to make history. To be the best, how can you be the best if you don’t fight the best?” ~Jose Benavidez Sr, father and chief second of David Benavidez
DROP THE D.E.A. JARGON!
As fighters, the only rationale one needs to not like another combatant is to share the same division with one another. Yet, for Senior, the source of his distaste for Sweethands is rooted more deeply in patriarchal love. After failing a 2018 VADA issued drug test, due to cocaine use, Benavidez was stripped of his WBC super middleweight title.
After being stripped, Red Flag was able to reclaim his belt by stopping Andre Dirrell by way of ninth round stoppage on September 28, 2019. However, ever since Benavidez was stripped over the drug infraction, Caleb Plant has made a point to bring it up numerous times while speaking with the press. Obviously this has proven to be an agitating tactic for Senior.
“That guy made me mad, he got under my skin. I told him, I went up to him and told him, ‘please tone it down you know. Take the drugs away because it’s killing me as a father, man, you have no idea!’ And he is going to watch this video, I did tell him, ‘please talk about you’re going to knock him out, do whatever you want but please take the drugs [out].’ And you know what he said? He looked into my eyes and said, ‘okay yeah, no problem I am going to stop.’ The next day it was the same shit man!”
FALL FIREWORKS???
Due to the overall acidic distaste that everyone has for each other in this situation, it should come as no surprise that Senior foresees a very brutal outcome for Sweethands if he and his son ever mixed it up.
“How is that fight with Caleb Plant going to go? We are going to take his head off! He is not going to stop, he is not going to come and try to fight, he is going to try to use his boxing skills and try to move. Guess what? We are going to attack that body, we’re going to break those ribs and little by little we’re going to take that head off.
I mean that’s what he does, I don’t think he is going to stay there in the pocket. So I am already watching a lot of videos of Caleb Plant. That is the fight that we really wanted to get.”
Since both sides are clamoring for the scrap, hopefully we will get this heated grudge match settled when boxing resumes action. Stay tuned to 3kingsboxing for all the latest boxing news and updates.
By: Bakari Simpson
