David Benavidez’s father and trainer, Jose Sr., announced on Instagram that their team is “[w]orking on closing a deal” to face fellow former champion Caleb Plant in September.
That’s got some caveats, however, namely the fact that Benavidez (25-0, 22 KO) has a May 21st interim title fight with David Lemieux on deck. The much smaller David has consistently fallen short at the highest levels and figures to be a sizeable underdog, but he’s certainly got the power to ruin Benavidez’s plans with one good shot.
Assuming Benavidez does manage to come out on top, this is a long-brewing grudge match with a very intriguing clash of styles, pitting the suffocating pressure and clubbing power of Benavidez against the movement and craftiness of Plant (21-1, 12 KO). It will also be interesting to see how Plant bounces back from last November’s stoppage loss to Canelo; if he learned any lessons there, one has to imagine they’ll be useful here.