By: Hans Themistode
For what seems like forever now, both David Benavidez and Caleb Plant have exchanged menacing looks in person, and hurled vulgar threats at one another over social media.
The genesis of their long hatred for one another travels back further than Benavidez can remember. But, despite the amount of vitriol both men have displayed toward one another, Benavidez claims that there’s no bad blood between them. That said, however, the former two-time super middleweight belt holder is anxious to give his fellow former champion a beating of a lifetime.
“There’s no beef,” said Benavidez during a recent interview with Behind The Gloves. “I’m just going to beat the shit out of him. There’s no beef behind it, I don’t like him and he don’t like me.”
While Benavidez craves a showdown against Plant, he refuses to look past his upcoming opponent. On May 21st, at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Benavidez will attempt to separate David Lemieux from consciousness. If the 25-year-old is successful in doing so, he’ll wrap the WBC interim crown around his waist.
With Benavidez eyeing an eventual showdown against Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s biggest attraction, he believes he’ll need more than just the WBC interim title to lure him into the ring.
Having watched closely as both Alvarez and Plant battled throughout 11 hard-fought rounds in November of 2021, a lightbulb flicks on in the mind of Benavidez. If the truculent former titlist is able to not only face Plant, but dispatch of him in violent fashion, he believes he’ll have Alvarez’s undivided attention.
“I don’t like Caleb Plant but in all honesty, I need him. I need him to get to the next level. I need to fight the people who fight Canelo. He needs me too. Who else is he going to fight after me? I feel like we need each other.”