Nobody at 168 and up comes close to Plant's speed. He's way faster than everybody else out there. You think Benavidez has seen anybody close as fast Plant? He won't be able to land. Benavidez has a limited punch arsenal. He throws a bunch of hooks and relies on blowing up his opponent. But Plant has good footwork and has way too much speed for a guy who fights like Benavidez. Plant has doubters because he doesn't have any power. But Andre Ward and Pernell Whitaker didn't have any power either. Most top fighters have power, but you don't need it if you can find a way to compensate for being a light hitter.
Plant could sit down on his punches a bit more to create better power. You rarely see him do that, and it would serve him well to mix that in to his game a bit. With that said, he is out there winning championships and I am typing on an online forum.....so there's that to consider.
It won't matter, Benavidez will overwhelm him eventually. Plant doesn't have the power to keep him off of him or adequate enough defense to slip everything coming his way. It's easy to look slick when facing a stiff wind, but not so much, when you have a tornado bearing down on you.
Plus his stamina is questionable. He was Kimbo Slice tired after that Uzcategui fight. If he improves that he can't at least Cuban school outbox guys at 168.
Has Benavidez ever fought somebody who is as fast as Plant? You cannot simulate that level of speed because nobody in the world can match his speed near his size. You can't prepare for it through sparring. Plant can prepare for Benavidez type power by just sparring LHW's.
PBC stages such garbage fights. Does anyone have faith this happens before 2023?? It's far and away the best fight at 168lbs, a fight that needs to happen, but we'll probably see both fight pure tomato cans. The problem, especially at PBC, is that these guys are used to being paid way above market to fight trash fights....and now that everyone is going to take a haircut they'll be expecting to be matched against clarissa shields. They'll have 0.0 interest in making the toughest fight in the division.
Plant should be able to clearly outbox him,, we'll find out if Benavidez can cut the ring off and put enough pressure on Caleb to wear him down. I make Caleb a 3-2 favorite