David Benavidez defeated Caleb Plant by a unanimous decision in a 12-round 168-pound fight.
The official scores were 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for Benavidez, eight rounds to four.
Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) was effective early in the fight, taking advantage of an oversized ring to stick and move and Benavidez tried but failed to close the distance.
However, by Round 6, Benavidez began to cut off the ring and land hard punches. And he landed more and more as the fight progressed, connecting almost at will in the championship rounds.
Plant, so elusive early, tried to move and did a lot of holding in attempt to blunt Benavidez’s attack but his only accomplishment was to hear the final bell.
The victory solidifies Benavidez as the No. 1 challenger to undisputed 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez.
You can read a full report here.
***
Junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos knocked out prospect Joey Spencer at 1:25 of the seventh round of their scheduled 10-rounder.
Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) put Spencer (16-1, 10 KOs) down with a left hook late in the opening round and pounded Spencer relentlessly thereafter.
Ramos overwhelmed Spencer, landing almost at will round after round. Spencer never stopped trying and had some good moments but he took a fearful amount of punishment.
That’s why his corner stepped in and stopped the fight midway through Round 7.
***
Chris Colbert survived a first-round knockdown to defeat Jose Valenzuela by a controversial unanimous decision in a 10-round lightweight bout.
All three judges had the same score, 95-94, meaning Colbert won six rounds on all three cards. Boxing Junkie scored it 96-93 for Valenzuela.
Colbert (17-1, 6) bounced back from his one-sided unanimous decision loss to Hector Luis Garcia in February of last year. Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) has now lost two in a row. He was stopped by Edwin De Los Santos in September.
Valenzuela, a southpaw, put Colbert on the canvas with a wide left about 30 seconds into the fight but Colbert survived the round.
The loser never hurt the winner to the same extent the rest of the fight but he continued to land hard shots the both the head about body, certainly harder than Colbert’s.
To his credit, Colbert, the quicker fighter, had some success when he fought from the outside — using his jab — and he got the better of some inside exchanges, too.
The judges evidently favored Colbert’s jab and quick combinations over Valenzuela’s heavy blows.
***
Welterweight contender Cody Crowley defeated Abel Ramos by a majority decision.
The official scores were 116-112, 115-113 and 114-114. Boxing Junkie scored it 116-112 for Crowley, eight rounds to four.
Crowley (22-0, 9 KOs) won the fight with effective aggression, as he stayed on the chest of Ramos (27-6-2, 21 KOs) from begining to end and simply outworked him.
Ramos also had success, however, While Crowley pushed the action and landed more punches, Ramos landed the cleaner, harder shots in a number of rounds.
Crowley had a rough 11th round, when a hard right from Ramos seemed to force Crowley to touch the canvas with his glove for a knockdown. However, a ringside official ruled that Crowley’s glove hadn’t hit the mat.
The bout was billed as a title eliminator.
***
Here we go. The pay-per-view portion of the card is about to begin: Cody Crowley vs. Abel Ramos.
***
David Benavidez and Caleb Plant are scheduled to face off in a pivotal 168-pound pay-per-view fight Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The featured bouts on the card begin at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. The main event will take place later in show.
Boxing Junkie will post the results of the main event and the other featured bouts immediately after they end. Simply return to this post and refresh when the time comes.
Full coverage – a fight story, photo gallery and analysis – will follow on separate posts the day of the fight and the following day.
Enjoy the fights!
[lawrence-related id=36272,36268,36261,36250,36246,36241,36237]
