Anthony David Benavidez vs. Caleb Hunter Plant & Chris Colbert vs. Jose Valenzuela RBR.

Nobody was picking Plant to stop, drop, or hurt Benavidez. Plants game has never been to get a fighter in trouble. He frustrates and outpoints. The only people Benavidez proved wrong last night were the people picking him to steamroll Plant in under 4 rounds, which there were a lot of.

 

So what part of the fight was Benavidez in trouble? Where was all the frustration? All I seen was a focused Benavidez sticking to a game plan while Plant tried to look cute copying the “Mayweather look at the missed punch” and matador bs. Even then, Benavidez was still focused. He kept his composure and observed Plants movements from round one. Didn’t waste punches trying to blow Plant out early and didn’t chase him endlessly. Several times Benavidez motioned to Plant to bring it to the middle. Even with all the hugging and holding he never lost his composure. He didn’t go crazy seeking revenge after the low blow, he stayed calm and collected. Even with Bayless warning him more than he ever warned Plant, he stayed focused. He never complained, never cried to the ref. So again, where was Benavidez in trouble of losing?

 

You made the comment that this fight proved Benavidez had high ring IQ and good defense. It clearly did not. I don't know why you keep going off into a tangent. I'm not interested in anything other than the original comment I replied to.

 

And that's just one user.

 

One user that represents less than a single percentage point of people who share the same view. Effectively non existent.

 

He showed both. You just refuse to see it. Benavidez was in control the entire time and worked his game plan. Same as Bivol did with Canelo. That’s intelligence.

 

Boxing fans are some of the most fickle people on the planet.

As an impartial observer without a dog in the fight, I was impressed with Benavidez's performance.

He didn't head hunt early, maintained educated pressure even when he wasn't scoring, and deftly used his length, size, and power to seize and hold the initiative throughout the second half of the fight. He did so, moreover, while remaining defensively responsible.

Plant, notwithstanding the nonsense from the ESB peanut gallery, is athletic, a good boxer, and no worse than the fourth best 168lber on the planet.

That Benavidez was able to pitch a shut out in the second half of the fight against the third or fourth best guy in the division is a tribute to his continued development and relatively high ceiling, not a testament to Plant.

Is Benavidez an all-time great at the weight? Not by these lights. But he's not an easy night's work for anyone, including Canelo.

 

Caleb Plant is just the type of fighter to come in evade, throw weak punches & hope that certain fans & the judges will equate that to being a high skilled slick boxer with an automatic out when/if the judges read out the card by playing that "But i boxed circles around him"

I mean you have to be honest with yourself tonight he had no real game plan when it came to him actually trying to win the fight & creating damage,in fact he never even truly tried turning over his punches in any of those exchanges & tells you everything,

He reminds me of the super middleweight version of Tony Harrison, he even includes the same over the top jovial antics, playing goofy games while yapping & we know exactly what happens when he starts that eyeballing while playing matador, i'm just really surprised that he didn't beg of approval from David by asking am i good?, i'm good ain't i? can you tell me i'm good please!?

 

But Spencer was proudly proclaiming Ramos didn't want this fight. Spencer insisted on it. Good for you, Joey, and look where it got you. It just told him he'll never be better than a regional fighter. Not anywhere close to a top-tier light middleweight.

 

You would think after numerous interviewers/showtime crew notifying him that the large sum of public believed his fight will play out exactly how it did that Plant would have been better prepared for it especially with all his past avoidance of Benavidez, instead his response was "watch what happens on Saturday Night",

He even got his large ring delivered to him, now just imagine him in the very same ring that Tszyu just fought weeks ago Yikes & by the way he also apparently Won all the important Mental Gamesmanship going into the fight according to most fight fans,

Wonder what his very complacent trainer Breadman had concocted for this challenge, guess we will all have to wait for his insightful bias column next week for all the glorious answers.

 

He was either reading his fans predictions or he’s just not very smart at all. He was pretty active with his fans on Twitter leading up to the fight. I’d guess it’s both. His fans gassed him up pretty good on that Dirrell ko.

 

This was a more entertaining fight than I thought it would be. Plant hung in there. Quite literally. If the ref had done his job Plant would have been warned early on holding. Instead he allowed it to continue the whole fight. That is the ONLY reason Plant stayed in the fight. However, Plant did better than I thought he would. I thought Benavidez was going to stop him. I do want to see a Canelo-Benavidez fight, though. That would be very entertaining. Since they are both come-forward fighters I actually think Benavidez has a good chance at stopping Canelo.

 

Right, which is why I'm not impressed by a 12 round UD from Benavidez. My opinion before and after this fight remains unchanged, it's a poor division.

 

Oh yeah & before he even started getting work with the likes of Julian & Plant & much before in time before getting to meet & mingle with some of the other Higher ups he surprisingly had completely different even opposite opinions/answers to many boxing related topics & the industry as a whole but now it's flipped,

Guess once your finally invited into the group you will happily get in line to pucker up & play the game.

 

Yup true, Benavidez versus either Andrade or Charlo would be good fights for him.