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Benavidez Decisively Defeats Plant in Grudge Match
David Benavidez emerged victorious over Caleb Plant in their grudge match on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The fight was the highlight of the Showtime Pay-Per-View event, which drew a crowd of 13,865.
The two fighters exchanged words and had a contentious buildup leading to the bout, but they embraced each other after the 12-round fight ended. Benavidez, who consistently landed powerful punches and applied pressure throughout the second half of the fight, won convincingly on two of the judges' scorecards.
Plant boxed well in the first half of the 168-pound bout, but Benavidez's power wore him down as the fight progressed. Plant also slowed Benavidez at times by holding excessively in the later rounds.
Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs), who was a 3-1 favorite, defended his WBC interim super middleweight title and maintained his spot as the WBC's mandatory challenger for undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KOs).
Plant (22-2, 13 KOs), the former IBF super middleweight champ, lost for the second time in his past three fights. Alvarez dropped him twice in the 11th round and stopped him in their 168-pound title unification fight in November 2021 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Although Plant couldn't hurt Benavidez with any of his punches on Saturday night, he acknowledged Benavidez as the better fighter after the bout. "David is a helluva fighter," Plant said. "We haven't been the best of friends, but we got into the ring and we settled it like men. That's what you're supposed to do."
Benavidez praised Plant as well, saying, "He's a helluva fighter. I'm happy we gave the fans the best rivalry of the year or the last five years. I'm just very happy."
With this victory, Benavidez has proven himself to be a serious contender in the super middleweight division, and a potential future opponent for Alvarez.