David Benavidez vs. Caleb Plant set for March 25th on Showtime pay-per-view
David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will headline a March 25th card on Showtime pay-per-view.
'The Mexican Monster' has been out of action since his clash with former champion David Lemieux in May. In that outing, Benavidez scored a dominant third-round knockout victory, becoming the WBC interim super middleweight champion in the process.
David Benavidez put a real beating on David Lemieux.
#boxing https://t.co/wzuNC0Mhqj
While he hoped that the win would earn him a date with Canelo Alvarez, he will have to wait a bit. Following his interim title victory, Benavidez had to witness the unified champion defeat Gennadiy Golovkin in September.
Following that victory, Alvarez stated that he would have to get hand surgery, keeping him out of action. In the meantime, the WBC ordered Benavidez to have an interim title defense against Caleb Plant.
'Sweet Hands' is coming off a knockout win over Anthony Dirrell in October. Plant is also attempting to score a rematch with Alvarez, as he was previously knocked out by the super middleweight champion in November 2021.
While the WBC ordered the two to fight months ago, no date was finalized until now. As first reported by Mike Coppinger of ESPN Ringside, David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will fight on March 25th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Along with that, the fight will reportedly be broadcast on Showtime pay-per-view. As of now, no undercard matchups have been attached to the event.
See Coppinger's tweet below:
David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will meet March 25 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Showtime PPV, sources tell ESPN. Big-time fight at 168 pounds.
David Benavidez discusses fighting Canelo Alvarez
David Benavidez is a little bit tired of waiting around for Canelo Alvarez.
'The Mexican Monster' has seemingly been anointed as the unified super-middleweight champion's biggest challenger at 168 pounds. Thanks to his size, speed, and power, names such as Mike Tyson have called for Benavidez to fight Alvarez.
However, the fight isn't slated to happen as of now, and there are a lot of hurdles preventing it. While Benavidez has been an interim champion for almost a year, Alvarez has been busy and out of action.
While there are valid excuses for the fight not happening, David Benavidez isn't happy about it. In a recent interview on The Last Stand podcast, he blasted Canelo Alvarez for avoiding a fight with him.
He stated:
“It just doesn’t really make any sense. I been winning title eliminators, I just won an interim title. I feel like a lot of people now don’t respect the boxing ranks. If you don’t respect the boxing ranks, what are the boxing ranks for?... I’m the number one guy, I’m the mandatory. I think he’s just talking a lot of sh*t because he doesn’t want to see me. He knows I’m the biggest threat at 168.”
See his comments below (2:45):