For the Boxing Casuals: David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant is The Real Thing

It can be difficult for casual fans to parse the sport of boxing. In a way, most events are kind of like 1980s studio wrestling shows, all hoopla, talk and squash matches, designed to sell you something else entirely.

Across the ring in one corner stands a faded veteran or no-hoper, putting on a brave face despite the outcome being in little doubt. Glaring at him is an avatar of violence—young, primal energy all but cascading right out of his pores. It’s a lamb to slaughter, only the lamb is a cab driver fully aware of what he’s gotten himself into.

It can be fun to watch a car wreck, but there’s nothing particularly compelling about watching three of them in row, especially if you’ve been promised a demolition derby or the second coming of Hagler-Hearns instead.

Meanwhile, as the blood splatters the ring and brain cells flitter out of skulls, the bulk of the show is spent promoting some other theoretical fight on a different, theoretical night. The actual fight is just an appetizer, an advertisement for an extravaganza that exists only in someone’s mind.

More frustrating still? When you watched wrestling on Saturday mornings, you knew exactly what you were getting—a commercial for arena shows or the next pay-per-view. But boxing promoters are smart and tricky. It’s hard to tell which shows are full of squash matches and which are the real thing.

So, as a lapsed boxing writer who still follows it closely, let me tell you: Caleb Plant vs David Benavidez is a legit boxing fight. After a great build, the two will finally enter the ring tonight on Showtime Pay-Per-View. And, friends, this is going to be something worth seeing.

Plant, who you may have seen in a failed effort against Canelo Alvarez, is a slick defensive boxer complete with the shoulder roll that betrays formative time at Floyd Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas. He moves well, looks to be in great shape and has enough pop to make the other guy respect him—key to long term success for any defensive fighter.

Benavidez is all offense, an awkward moving whirling dervish who throws punches in startling variety, all with the kind of steam that deposit a man directly on his backside. He has fast hands, slow feet and absolutely zero experience in a fight of this magnitude against a boxer of this caliber. Now, that’s true of every young fighter at some point in his career. This is the fight where we learn who Benavidez really is—a future Hall-of-Famer or a guy who falters as the competition improves. This is his proving grounds, a chance to show the world who he can be.

The fight may come down to who can better mitigate their own weaknesses. Benavidez is a great puncher who throws in combination at every distance and range. But can he track down the fleet-footed Plant?

Meanwhile Plant, who is a good defensive fighter during an initial flurry, tends to lose track of where he is when fists fly in fives or sixes instead of ones and twos. If Benavidez gets a chance, he’ll be hitting him coming and going. Survival may be the key to the fight for Plant. He’ll have to weather several storms to win. Against Canelo, he was sharp and evasive for the first half of the fight before getting caught late. Benavidez will be looking for a similar outcome. But does he have the same drive and ability to cut off the ring Alvarez did?

Well, we’re about to find out!

You can easily see this fight going in either direction—which is kind of what you want when you are tossing money on the table to see it. It’s a busy weekend in sports, with the Madness of March in full bloom. But this one is definitely worthy of your attention and time.