
Super middleweights David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) and Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) have a deep-rooted rivalry, which has sproated into a cactus of spine-tingling verbal barbs.
They will step into the ring at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 25th, to branch out yet prune to flourish, as the interim WBC title, which Benavidez holds will be disputed.
Benavidez comes from winning his last fight at the Gila River Arena, against David Lemieux, by technical knockout in the third. Plant, after losing to Canelo in 2021, KO`d former world champion Anthony Dirrell.
Yesterday, both men were glowering and glowing at a very heated press conference:
Caleb Plant
“We’ve got a big fight on our hands. But that’s good! What boxing needs is big fights, and I want to be someone to deliver that to the boxing world. I’m sure he does too. Coming off an 11-month layoff after the Canelo fight, I could’ve chosen a nobody, just some sparring session of a match, but I told my team I want to make the biggest fight possible. And that may not be the biggest fight out there, but the biggest fight possible.
“They came back to me with two-time former world champ, Anthony Dirrell, and he was ranked high enough in the WBC to make that a 12-round WBC title eliminator. And (Benavidez) being the interim champ and that being a title eliminator means I fight him, we get it on next.
“So going into the Dirrell fight I knew what was happening next, I knew the plan. And so the narrative of me being pressured (into this fight) or bullied or cornered into having to fight him is not the case.
“I’m exactly where I want to be. I’m the fight that I want…March 25th, you don’t got to worry about me pulling out. I’m gonna show up.”
David Benavidez
“There’s been a lot of S#&%T talking going back and forth, but on March 25th I get to put hands on Caleb Plant. And trust me when I say I’m going to beat you.”
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