A Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez versus David Benavidez fight is a clash many fans want to see more than any other in boxing.
Benavidez has been calling for his shot against Canelo for years, but the champion doesn’t seem interested in making the fight anytime soon.
One man with a unique perspective on the two is Caleb Plant.
Plant is the only man to face both men. Canelo stopped the American in the eleventh round when they met in 2021, gaining the IBF title in the process and becoming the undisputed super-middleweight champion.
Benavidez then faced Plant in 2023 and, although dominating the contest, was unable to stop his man for the first time in seven fights, but took a clear victory on the scorecards
Speaking to Kevin Iole about a potential Canelo-Benavidez match-up, Plant revealed that Canelo hit harder but wouldn’t be surprised if either man got their hand raised.
“I think it’s one hell of a fight, Canelo’s one hell of a fighter that’s why I wanted to fight him, David’s one hell of a fighter and even though we had bad blood that’s why I wanted to fight him to. I want to be the best so you’ve got to beat the best, you can’t just talk about it you’ve got to go after it.
So those guys are both great fighters and both of them have different styles. I think Canelo hits harder for one punch, puts his combinations together more than David, but David puts his hands together more than Canelo does.
When it’s big fights like that it’s hard for me to just say ‘oh this guy will win or that guy will win’, because if Canelo got in there and won, if he stopped David, if he caught him with a big shot or was able to get on him or just win and get his hand raised, you know you couldn’t say that you’d be extremely surprised and David with his ability if he was able to get in there and get the job done I wouldn’t be surprised either.”
Benavidez moved up to light-heavyweight for his last outing and is now in prime position to face the winner of the undisputed clash between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol Canelo will defend his three 168lbs titles against Edger Berlanga on September 14.
