Written by: Shawn Cross
Super middleweight Caleb Plant lost his world title to Canelo Alvarez in 2021…but don’t tell the 30-year-old Plant that his one defeat ruined his career. If you do, you will find yourself receiving a history lesson. “Duran was knocked out cold, and fell face first against Tommy Hearns,” the 23-1 plant said recently. Faytbe. “He quit in the middle of a fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, and he is still considered one of the greatest players of all time. Tommy Hearns is suspended. Sugar Ray Leonard is suspended. Muhammad Ali is suspended.”
In other words, the history of sports shows that in general one defeat should not count as much. With that being said, David Benavidez – who, like Blunt, has been a former global name – will be more than happy to hand Blunt a second defeat when the two men meet on the 22nd of this month in a 12-round pay-per-view main event. Untitled fights don’t get much bigger than this one. Moreover, the winner will be in line for another world title.
Let the plant Fight the hype Sean Settle knows he’s ready to rise to the occasion. “We know he has fast hands,” he said of Benavidez. “We know what he’s capable of. We know what he can do, but we have things to combat and we have things to neutralize that, we have traps to set, we have a game plan.” Suffice it to say, Plante doesn’t think losing to Canelo will affect him in his throw with Benavidez.
“Anytime in my life I’ve been through anything, I’ve come out the other side stronger,” said Plant, who has gone on to defeat Anthony Dirrell since losing Canelo. No matter what is placed before me, it will not fold me, nor will it collapse for me. Just because you misappropriated it doesn’t mean you failed.”
Plant also noted that if fans want more significant fights (like Plant-Benavidez), they need to be ready to support those fights. “Fighting fans beg for fights like this,” he said, later adding, “When it comes to me and David, we’ve done our job. And we’ve been raising our end of the couch to make boxing thrive and push the culture forward, so now it’s the fans’ job to live the couch end and tune in,” he said. And buying that pay-per-view, supporting us just like we are. They’re supporting what they want. Hopefully they’re supporting what we want.”
