BoxRec

This would definitely be an excellent matchup. I hope it happens.

Not been announced and when will it be cancelled are the two big questions here.
Quality match up if they pull it off.

Evander wrote: ↑10 Jan 2023, 06:10 Not been announced and when will it be cancelled are the two big questions here.
Quality match up if they pull it off.

Does any other sport treat its fans with such contempt?

Every good business knows the value of giving their customers what they want so they'll keep coming back for more.

Thomastearns wrote: ↑10 Jan 2023, 12:48

Evander wrote: ↑10 Jan 2023, 06:10 Not been announced and when will it be cancelled are the two big questions here.
Quality match up if they pull it off.

Does any other sport treat its fans with such contempt?

Every good business knows the value of giving their customers what they want so they'll keep coming back for more.

Contempt
Yes, football does, remember they tried to pull off that Super League or whatever you call it behind everyone's back.
Boxing, yes a bit but not as much.
Boxing has it's ups and downs but we almost always have the tools to get things done, we certainly have the talent.
Just got to give them a boot up the ass every now and then.

Fans will come back easily in boxing, make the right fights and make it affordable to watch and away we go what are we waiting for here

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑18 Jan 2023, 18:34

Brilliant, now we got ourselves a good fight to look forward to.

They should have fought as prospects in an eliminator for the World championship, but in reality they meet as former title-holders. However, I won't complain, it's a one of the best possible matchups.

Sources: David Benavidez-Caleb Plant clash set for March 25

Former super middleweight titleholders David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will meet in a long-awaited fight on March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.

The 168-pound bout will be a PBC on Showtime PPV.

Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) and Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) both announced in November that they struck a deal for the grudge match. They've traded plenty of barbs in both directions, and it all leads to a fascinating clash of styles.

Benavidez, 25, is a volume-punching pressure fighter who's been among boxing's most avoided fighters.

Plant, 30, is a stick-and-move boxer whose only defeat came last November in an 11th-round TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion. But after Alvarez, Benavidez and Plant are widely considered the two best fighters who campaign at 168 pounds (Benavidez is ESPN's No. 2 super middleweight; Plant is No. 3).

"You can't hide from me anymore, I'll see you soon," Benavidez wrote on Instagram in November.

"I went and made it happen," Plant wrote. "Contract signed. See you early next year."

Benavidez was slated to meet Jose Uzcategui in January before the fight was scrapped. The Phoenix-born boxer twice held a super middleweight title but both times lost his belt outside the ring.

First, a positive test for cocaine in 2018 led to him being stripped. Benavidez regained the title with a ninth-round KO of Anthony Dirrell in 2019 but was forced to relinquish his belt the following year when he failed to make weight.

Most recently, Benavidez scored a third-round TKO of former middleweight titleholder David Lemieux in May.

Plant, who fights out of Las Vegas, won the IBF super middleweight title in 2019 with a unanimous decision victory over Uzcategui. He made three successful defenses before he lost the belt in the undisputed championship fight against Alvarez.

Plant rebounded last month with a spectacular ninth-round KO of Dirrell.

I really like this fight. Plant is slick, and may be ahead half way through or so. Benevidez will catch up though, and beat him up I predict.

Plant is a more proven fighter and also he has NO 0 to lose.

Press Release

Undefeated former two-time WBC Super Middleweight Champion David “El Bandera Roja’’ Benavidez and former IBF Super Middleweight Champion Caleb Plant will meet in a high-stakes, 12-round showdown to settle their long-simmering feud live on SHOWTIME PPV on Saturday, March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas in an event presented by Premier Boxing Champions.

Benavídez and Plant will take their years-long war of words into the ring, as these assertive and hungry super middleweights look to cast their ballot as the division’s next kingpin. Both have had reigns as champions at 168 pounds and both are eager to once again ascend to the top of the division as they fight for Benavídez’s Interim WBC Super Middleweight title.

Tickets for the live event, which is promoted by TGB Promotions and Sampson Boxing, go on sale Friday, January 27 at 10 a.m. PT and can be purchased HERE through AXS.com.

Pre-sale tickets will be available TOMORROW, Thursday, January 26 from 10 a.m. PT until 10 p.m. PT and can be purchased HERE through AXS.com with the code: BOXING

“This is one of the biggest and potentially most explosive fights that can be made in boxing, not just in the super middleweight division,” said Stephen Espinoza, President, Sports & Event Programming, Showtime Networks Inc.

“It pits two fighters at the peak of their athletic primes, both with prodigious skill-sets and contrasting styles, both of whom take great pride in the way they perform. It is an intriguing matchup and the outcome is impossible to predict. Add in their genuine and mutual dislike for one another and we have a volatile, 50-50 matchup and potential fight-of-the-year candidate. SHOWTIME is proud to deliver this event and mark yet another compelling and significant main event as we raise the curtain on our 2023 schedule.”

The 25-year-old undefeated Benavídez (26-0, 23 KOs) became the youngest-ever 168-pound world champion at just 20 years old when he defeated Ronald Gavril by split decision for the vacant WBC title on SHOWTIME in 2017. A Phoenix-native who now lives and trains in the Seattle area, Benavídez has stamped his place in the super middleweight division with knockout power in both hands and improving ring savvy with each fight.

When he was 15 years old, Benavídez went from weighing 250 pounds to a boxing prodigy under the watchful eye of his father and trainer, Jose, Sr., and his brother and veteran contender Jose Jr., as he famously held his own in sparring against middleweight champions Gennady Golovkin and Peter Quillin. Benavídez is riding a string of six straight knockout victories heading into the bout against Plant, having most recently scored a resounding third-round stoppage of former champion David Lemieux in his last fight in May.

Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) has used his sublime boxing skills to rise to the rank of world champion and, in his last fight, showed big-time power earning 2022’s Knockout of the Year (CBS Sports, BS) in a win over Anthony Dirrell. It was Plant’s debut performance with new trainer Stephen Edwards in October where he ended a heated rivalry with Dirrell with a single punch, knocking out the former two-time champion to deliver one of 2022’s most memorable finishes.

The 30-year-old Plant, who was born in Nashville, Tenn., and now lives in Las Vegas, won the IBF title in a hard-fought unanimous decision victory over Jose Uzcategui in 2019. Plant dropped Uzcategui in the second and fourth rounds and cruised to victory for the championship. He made three successful title defenses, defeating Mike Lee and Vincent Feigenbutz by TKO in addition to a unanimous decision victory over former champion Caleb Truax. He lost the title in an undisputed championship match against Canelo Alvarez in November 2021, at times frustrating Alvarez with his smooth boxing acumen before defeating Dirrell to set up this highly anticipated clash with Benavidez.

Great fight! Let's hope nothing occurs to stop this from going ahead..I fancy a late Benavidez stoppage in a cracker.

at last a decent fight for benny but I think plant will just outwork him over 12

I expect Benavidez to destroy Plant, around six rounds.

Benavidez will be scrutinized now.
He opens at a clear favourite by the looks of it.
-300

Benavidez by stoppage at any point of the second half of the fight.

I have issues with Benevidez defence, it's just not air tight by any stretch of the imagination, it's one of the first things I think about when his name comes up.
I'm just not 100% Plant has it in him to plan out a strategy to take advantage of it.

Jesus Ramos vs. Joey Spencer on the undercard

It's pretty frustrating that we have to wait til the end of March for this big fight.

Hopefully we'll still see Benavidez fight 3 times this year.

As for Plant, I suspect he's already attained the status of a journeyman. A good journeyman, but a journeyman nevertheless.

Plant apparently will try to get on his bike to frustrate DB, demanding a bigger ring. Interesting fight. I'm pulling for DB!

Jose Valenzuela vs. Chris Colbert Has been added

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑03 Feb 2023, 04:17 Jose Valenzuela vs. Chris Colbert Has been added

That fight is alright.
Both lost their last bouts but had a good run till then.