By Dan Ambrose: Trainer José Benavidez Sr. says Caleb ‘Sweethhands’ Plant has woken up “the animal” on interim WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez with his insults and trash comments in the buildup to his fight this coming Saturday, March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Lalo Hernandez/ SHOWTIME)
Jose Sr. claims that Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) is going to be severely punished in the process of being knocked out by the undefeated ‘Monstruo Mexicano’ Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) in his Showtime PPV headliner.
Plant displayed rare power in his last fight, stopping Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round last October. Jose Sr. says that he isn’t worried about Plant’s display of power because he expects him to run into daylight when Benavidez starts hitting him, and he won’t stop running for the entire fight.
Why Benavidez wants to destroy Plant
“We are going to have a tough fight against him on March 25, but as a man, I have no respect for that guy,” José Benavidez Sr told Fighthype about Caleb Plant.
“It gets to the point where you awaken the animal in David after so many years of being bullied by this guy. [Plant], saying that he is fat. Even on her Instagram, she put up an enlarged photo of David, saying that David is fat. She always says that about David. ‘Fat.’
“He’s just a bully, and after a while, David got fed up. He woke up. People don’t like that. You get tired after a while of being bullied. No, because this fight motivated him a lot,” said José Sr when asked if Benavidez had gotten too excited for the Plant fight.
“He’s doing things I’ve never seen him do before. She feeds him to stay motivated. He will handle himself well and not go in angry. Sometimes you need anger to go to war, but as long as you control it. I’m not worried about that. He knows what he is doing,” José Sr said of his belief that Benavidez will not go crazy inside the ring, fighting like a savage and getting cut down by Plant.
“He knows he’s not going to go for the knockout right away. Let’s try to take him down and hurt him and lock him up. This is the plan. The knockouts arrive. I’m pretty sure if the knockout doesn’t come, he’ll have it ready to lock him up whenever he wants.
“I’m not going to underestimate Caleb Plant. He is a good fighter, a skilled fighter, and a fast fighter. He has fast forward and good footwork. He moves very well, but nothing that he has is nothing that we haven’t already seen.
“He left his old coach. I think if his old coach had been with him, he would have done much better. He was the one who led him to a world title. He took him to the top. Now, he brought his father. His father was there in the corner to watch and advise him.
“Now his father is the coach and he has brought other coaches. Sometimes it takes time to adjust to new ideas, and get started. He is 30 years old. When you’re 30, you’re not the same as when you’re 26 or 27. You don’t learn as fast.
“So that’s a huge advantage for our side. It has good coaches and people with good ideas, but executing those ideas takes a bit of time. He came off a loss when he got this trainer, and now they want to fight together, and he looked spectacular in that knockout. [of Anthony Dirrell last October].
“Actually, he didn’t look good in that fight. That knockout came out of nowhere. For me, that’s good. I’ve been with David since he was born, so I know him very well. So, I think it’s a great advantage,” said José Sr.
Benavidez goes to another level
“Caleb Plant says I never wear gloves and I don’t know anything about boxing,” said Benavidez Sr. “I’ll tell you right now I don’t know anything about boxing. I’m learning, but look who I’ve been working with. Two world champions.
“I have three world champions. Now I have the opportunity to work with David Benavidez, Rayo Valenzuela and Diego Pacheco. Diego Pacheco looked spectacular last week, so I must be doing something good.
“A lot of people don’t give him a lot of credit,” José Sr. said of Benavidez. “He is not a two-time world champion. He is three times world champion. He is an interim world champion with the WBC. So that’s a lot.
“If Canelo vacates the regular [WBC super middleweight] world title, then becomes champion. We are super happy and super motivated, and we are going to show the world a new David.
“Many people say that he has flat feet and that his defense is not good. You guys are going to see a lot of head movement, defense, cutting the ring and going to the body.
“David is only 26 years old. We brought Memo Heredia. He would say this is the best camp because of the motivation and the level of opposition, and he’s super motivated by his first PPV event.
“It went to another level. If you saw David one fight before, two fights before, you’ll see David on another level, and he’s only 26 years old. This is the moment, this is the fight that motivated him the most, and I can see the big step up on a different level.
“I would say this is his best camp, but his next fight will be more difficult. So we have to adapt and fight harder. I would say that every fighter has to be in his prime. They don’t have confidence. We are confident,” said José Sr.
The plant will run after it is hit.
“Caleb, at the press conference, he had his hands in his pockets the whole time,” said Benavidez Sr. “These guys, you don’t hear anything from coaches. Breadman is giving [Plant] Confidence that you can hit hard. Hopefully they can do that, try to stay there and try to trade with David. Let’s see what happens.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen. As soon as she feels David’s punches, she’ll run, move and punch. Our work is no secret. Hurt him, go to the body and slow down, connect with our punches and push him away.
“Your job is to move, run, run and move to try to do something. Let’s see who is the best fighter. The fighter or the boxer. It’s a good fight for us to show people that we’re ready to be at this level. I think David Benavidez ‘El Monstruo Mexicano’ is the best fighter at 168.
“Caleb Plant is a dangerous fighter, and we just have to act and do what we said we were going to do. It’s the biggest fight of his career and the biggest fight of our career. We have to go find him. We have to look awesome.
“We can’t just win the fight. We have to knock him out. I don’t think that fight is going to happen because he doesn’t want to fight the ‘Mexican Monster,’” Jose Sr. said of his belief that Canelo Alvarez will not fight Benavidez.
“If I were Eddy Reynoso, I would probably do the same. Don’t face this guy. You are going to injure yourself. We have to look spectacular. We can’t look past Caleb Plant, and the only way we can get Canelo is like we did Caleb Plant. He was pressured. He didn’t want to fight David, but he had to.
“There is a point where you can’t hide and you can’t run. I think the same will happen to Canelo. Once we look impressive, we have the right to fight Canelo, and the fight and the people are going to demand the fight. That is what we have to do. We have to look awesome. We can’t just win the fight.
“How humiliating will that be against the Mexican people?” said Jose Sr about how Canelo looks bad if he doesn’t fight Benavidez. “If you are the champion and you are the best, you have to fight whoever looks impressive, otherwise you have to retire. Guess what? He is going to have to give up all those belts,” José Sr. said.