David Benavidez realizes he didn’t just lose the WBC super middleweight title at the scale August 14.
The undefeated former champion also lost all the leverage he had to secure the types of high-profile fights he wants. The Phoenix native still would love to challenge Caleb Plant if the heavily favored IBF 168-pound champion defeats former champ Caleb Truax on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Benavidez and Plant have talked trash to each other ever since Plant won his IBF belt from Jose Uzcategui two years ago. Now that Benavidez doesn’t own a title, however, it makes better business sense for Plant, assuming he beats Truax, to either fight a less imposing optional opponent thereafter or to just wait until later this year to face Canelo Alvarez.
If Plant opts to wait for a lucrative showdown with Alvarez, he’ll have to hope that the Mexican superstar defeats Turkey’s Avni Yildirim, the mandatory challenger for his WBC 168-pound crown, on February 27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami and then England’s Billy Joe Saunders in their title unification fight May 8 at an undetermined site.
“If there’s an opportunity to get a fight with Caleb Plant, then that’s the route we’re gonna go,” Benavidez told BoxingScene.com. “But I think if Caleb Plant has an option, he’ll sit out until he gets the Canelo fight. I think he’ll try his best to wait it out to fight Canelo because, obviously, Canelo is the cash cow right now. Everybody is after Canelo, but I feel like [Plant] is in a better position than me to make that fight because he has a title. So, I understand that, at the end of the day, it’s business.
“I know that [Plant] understands if he fights me that he’s taking a big risk of losing his title. You know, because I feel like I can knock Caleb Plant out. You know, whatever he says about him being the best, that he has the best defense, that he has the best this, the best that, him and his team knows that I’m a very big threat and that there’s a very good possibility of me knocking him out. So, I feel like he’s definitely probably gonna sit it out until he sees that he can get the Canelo fight.”
The 28-year-old Plant (20-0, 12 KOs) will satisfy his second mandatory obligation in less than a year when he encounters Truax (31-4-2, 19 KOs, 1 NC) in the main event of a FOX tripleheader Saturday night at Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall (8 p.m. EST; 5 p.m. PST).
Though a motivated former IBF 168-pound champ, Truax is 37 years old and wasn’t especially impressive in his last fight – a 10-round, majority-decision victory over Kenya’s David Basajjamivule (16-5-1, 11 KOs) last January 25 in Minneapolis. Basajjamivule was 41 when he boxed Truax and hadn’t fought in 2½ years.
Plant, of Ashland City, Tennessee, is listed by most Internet sports books as at least a 45-1 favorite versus Truax, of St. Michael, Minnesota. Benavidez gives Truax a better chance than handicappers, yet he expects Plant to win.
“I expect Caleb Plant to go out there and beat Caleb Truax,” Benavidez said. “I’m kind of interested to see how he’s gonna react to Caleb Truax’s pressure because, at the end of the day, Caleb Truax has been in there with some good fighters. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna try to put that pressure on all night, but I just feel like he’s gonna get out-boxed by Caleb Plant. But it should be a pretty good fight.”
Plant understandably chastised Benavidez for failing to make weight the day before his optional title defense against Alexis Angulo on August 15. Benavidez was nearly three pounds too heavy for his 168-pound championship defense and the WBC stripped him of his title for the second time.
Benavidez battered Colombia’s Angulo (26-2, 22 KOs) until their one-sided fight was stopped after the 10th round at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. The 24-year-old Benavidez (23-0, 20 KOs) will return to the ring March 13, when he’ll encounter Ronald Ellis (18-1-2, 12 KOs, 1 NC) in another “Showtime Championship Boxing” main event at Mohegan Sun Arena.
When asked by BoxingScene.com recently about boxing Benavidez after facing Truax, Plant smirked and didn’t mention Benavidez’s name.
“Big things are ahead,” Plant said. “I feel like I’m the best in the super middleweight division and that big things are gonna come. Things take time. As for what a perfect year for me will look like … me knocking out Caleb Truax in this fight, me fighting Canelo, becoming undisputed super middleweight champion, and then finally being able to enjoy Christmas.”
Though he might have to remain more patient than he had hoped, Plant expects to battle Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs) in what would be a full title unification fight if Plant beats Truax and Alvarez defeats Yildirim (21-2, 12 KOs) and Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs), the WBO champion. The 30-year-old Alvarez already owns the WBA and WBC 168-pound crowns.
“The [Canelo] fight’s gonna happen,” Plant said. “Canelo is saying the fight’s gonna happen. His team is saying it. I’m telling you it’s gonna happen. My team is telling you. So, the fight will happen. Everyone’s just gonna have to pump the brakes a little bit and wait. I promise the fight will happen at the right time. Right now, I’m just focused on January 30th.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
