Via Jim Calfa: David Benavidez believes Caleb Plant chose not to fight him because of him.”fear“About the beating he would inflict on him if he played that game.
Instead of going up against No. 1 WBC 168-lb contender Benavidez, Plant is tipped to take on Anthony Dirrell next.
Dirrell, 37, is the fighter Benavidez stopped for nine rounds in 2019. Going up against the former two-time WBC 168-lb champion, Dirrell will give fans a chance to compare Plant’s track record. with Benavidez.
However, it will be difficult for Plant to be able to counter Dirrell better than Benavidez because he is not a puncher, and he has poor stamina.
The former IBF super middleweight champion (21-1, 12 KOs) recently expressed an interest in fighting Benavidez.
However, the fight never reached the negotiating stage before Plant decided not to pursue the contest, blaming Benavidez for being signed to take on David Lemieux on May 21.
Benavidez said Plant lost her nerve
“This fat boy smacks one of his ***. That’s the thing about Caleb Plant. HI make his damn mouth all dayand then he tries very little to make these wars happen,” David Benavidez told Fight Stars TV.
“The WBC is desperate for the interim WBC title compared to me and Caleb Plant. Why wasn’t that fight done? It wasn’t created because Caleb Plant didn’t want to fight.
“You think WBC wouldn’t enjoy having that fight, Caleb Plant against David Benavidez for the interim WBC title? That would be a great situation for the WBC. Now he’s going out there right now. I heard he’s talking to Anthony Dirrell now.
“So he said all that for no reason because he was scared. Deep inside, I knew he was scared.
“There will be an oral agreement until after I sign the fight with David Lemieux. If he [Plant] is with it and I’m with it, we can have a verbal agreement to make the fight go after our fight.
“It’s okay. We can make the fight happen in September or December,” Benavidez said of what he and Plant could have done. “If he doesn’t want to fight and he’s saying all this, and that’s basically him saying he doesn’t want to fight.
“We come across the same people, Luis Decubas. He handles me and he handles Caleb Plant. So it’s not hard to make that fight happen. It’s not just him.
“It was with Jermall Charlo, and even with Edgar Berlanga. We contacted them privately to make the brawl happen,” Benavidez said.
As long as Benavidez doesn’t pin his hopes on the Plant fight taking place later this year, he’ll be fine if it doesn’t.
Benavidez should know that his chances of fighting Plant are very low because he will most likely come up with another reason why he won’t fight him next.
Plant vs. Dirrell will be a good fight
“I’m at a point in my career, it’s my ninth year professionally, I just want to get the biggest games out there,” Benavidez said. “I’ve won it twice already and I’m fighting for another belt.
“So I feel like I’ve earned the right to fight all these other fighters, all these big name fighters. I am the best. Even when it comes to money, I’m willing to cut money just to put them in there because I know I’ll shine when the day comes.
“I think there’s a good chance it could happen,” Benavidez said when asked if he believed a fight with Plant could happen after their next matches. “I have to see what they look like with Anthony Dirrell,” Benavidez said.
Plant can lose to Dirrell because he can still punch, and he has better motivation. In Plant’s final game against Canelo Alvarez, he let loose in the later rounds and was stopped in the 11th round last November.
“If I don’t get that fight, the other fight I want is Boo Boo Andrade. I think it’s also a big fight because Andrade is fighting for an interim WBO title. So if we can put those two titles together, that will put more pressure on Canelo Alvarez. I feel like this is going to be a good year for us.
“I feel like Anthony Dirrell is a stealth fighter, and Caleb Plant didn’t have the power to take him down. The warriors who can dominate Anthony Dirrell are the ones with power.
“Caleb Plant is a good fighter, but he only has 12 kills in 22 fights, so his strength isn’t really there. I feel it will be a good battle.
“Yes, sure, I’ll take him to the hospital” Benavidez said when asked if he has a knockout
