Super middleweight David Benavidez has long called for a bout with top fighters, such as Eddie Hearn’s client Canelo Alvarez, as well as 160-pound middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and fellow 168-pound contender Caleb Plant.

Benavidez has been particularly critical of Alvarez, the Mexican superstar who holds all the belts at 168, for supposedly refusing to fight him.

While Alvarez is nominally a free agent, he is in the midst of a multi-bout deal with Hearn, who works exclusively with the streaming platform DAZN. Benavidez, on the other hand, works with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, a rival outfit that does business with Showtime and Fox.

In a recent interview, Hearn eviscerated Benavidez and his team for what he believes is Benavidez’s lackluster résumé and called on the young American to fight some of the fighters in the same orbit, including Plant and the middleweight Charlo; all three fighters operate under the PBC banner.

“Canelo Alvarez has the best résumé in boxing,” Hearn told a group of reporters recently. “I cannot believe people question the résumé of Canelo Alvarez. Just write it down on a piece of paper or read off the names he’s fought consistently.

“You’ve got other guys, like Benavidez....... You were screaming out for Canelo Alvarez. You have to make statements. You have to make the fans say ‘Canelo [must fight Benavidez].'

“You know that when a fighter is big enough and Canelo feels like that fighter deserves his opportunity he will give him that opportunity.”

Benavidez is now in position to make that statement. On Thursday, both Benavidez and Plant took to social media to confirm they have signed on a for a high-stakes showdown in early 2023.

Benavidez last fought in May, a one-sided third-round stoppage of David Lemieux.

Plant, who suffered a stoppage loss to Canelo a year ago, is coming off a one-punch knockout of Anthony Dirrell last week at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 

Hearn noted that an easy way for Benavidez to “earn” a fight with Alvarez is to beat someone like Plant. Alvarez has long insisted to the media that Benavidez needs to accomplish more in the ring before a legitimate conversation about a fight can take place.

“Where’s the motivation [for Alvarez] to fight Benavidez?” Hearn said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good fight. But he (Alvarez) wants to challenge himself. Rematch Bivol, the trilogy with [Golovkin]. He will fight Benavidez, I’m sure. It’s not my decision. It’s (Alvarez manager and trainer) Eddy Reynoso and [Alvarez], but he has no fear of David Benavidez. All he wants is these guys to earn a shot and let the world call out a huge fight.

"And if Benavidez went ahead and beat Charlo or Benavidez went ahead and beat Plant, Canelo would fight him. I know [Benavidez] wants big fights. You’ve got two guys in the same camp, Plant and Benavidez, it’s a massive fight."