Caleb Plant has shared the ring with both Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and David Benavidez.
Alvarez currently holds three of three of the four major world super-middleweight titles, and Benavidez has previously held the WBC belt on two separate occasions.
A fight between the two has long been talked about but as of yet nothing firm has been arranged. ‘Canelo’ is next out this weekend against Edgar Berlanga and should he come through that defence with a win, he has admitted maybe then he will entertain talk of a fight with ‘The Mexican Monster’ despite previously having seemed to price himself out of negotiations.
Benavidez has grown so impatient waiting for his shot at ‘Canelo’ that in his last outing, he moved up to light-heavyweight and took a solid win to earn him the WBC interim title which puts him at the front of the queue to face the winner of the undisputed fight between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev next month.
American fighter Plant lost his IBF tittle to ‘Canelo’ back in 2021, getting stopped inside the distance and losing his unbeaten record, while he faced Benavidez in March last year and lost by unanimous decision.
He has now given his verdict to Cigar Talk on a potential clash between the two and was asked who was harder to face and picked ‘Canelo.’
“I mean, probably the one I didn’t make it to the end of. Getting stopped in the 11th by ‘Canelo’ was obviously disappointing but you know I did have some good success up to then. It was a close fight, probably 6- 4 going into the 11th. With David, handling the first five was fairly easy but things got away from me after that. He’s a big old boy and got on top of me after that.”
He then weighed up who might win should the two meet.
“There are pros and cons to both. There are things that ‘Canelo’ does better than David, there are things that David does better than ‘Canelo’. It’s a high-calibre fight. I couldn’t say for sure. If Benavidez won, I don’t think the world would be surprised, but if ‘Canelo’ stopped or knocked him out or won, could you be crazy surprised? Both are great fighters.”
‘Canelo’s reluctance to take this fight so far has led to Mike Tyson questioning his heart.
