A critical look at the past week in boxing
BIGGGEST WINNER
David Benavidez
Benavidez was Benavidez in the end, a dogged, merciless hunter who almost always bags his prey. Caleb Plant was effective early, sticking, moving, holding, doing whatever it took to blunt Benavidez attack and land enough punches to win rounds. That worked only so long, however. Benavidez continued to stalk his rival and gradually closed the distance in spite of an oversized ring, which allowed him to begin landing an assortment of damaging blows that broke down Plant and resulted in a unanimous decision victory Saturday at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The winner’s knockout streak ended at six but he couldn’t have been more dominating down the stretch, winning the last seven rounds on all three cards and outlanding Plant 161-46 in the last six, according to CompuBox. It was arguably the most impressive performance in Benavidez’s career given Plant’s ability and an indication that he is ready to face anyone, including undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez. Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) is a better boxer than he might seem to be and a physical freak, which might make him unstoppable. And remember: He’s only 26. He’s probably getting better and better. Frightening thought, huh?
BIGGEST LOSER
Caleb Plant
Plant had the right game plan. Get in, get out, move the feet and hold when necessary. Those tactics had the Tennessean leading on the scorecards after the first six rounds and in position to deliver a significant upset. Team Plant couldn’t have been more optimistic halfway through the fight. Then things went south. Plant simply didn’t have the wherewithal to withstand the pressure of a particularly good, powerful opponent and faded badly as the fight progressed. We saw that when he fought Alvarez, who stopped him in the 11th round. And we saw it again on Saturday night. Benavidez outlanded him by an average of 17.5-7.6 per round, including the rounds Plant won. Plant landed only 14.6% of his punches, which says something about his limitations and Benavidez defensive skills. The CompuBox numbers aren’t official but they underscore the loser’s ineffectiveness. Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) is a fine, but limited boxer with average punching power who appears to have hit a ceiling. He can beat the Jose Uzcateguis and Anthony Dirrells of the world but not next-level, pound-for-pound-caliber opponents.
WORST DECISION?
Chris Colbert UD Jose Valenzuela
The decision wasn’t outrageous but Colbert was definitely fortunate to emerge victorious over Valenzuela on the Benavidez-Plant card. All three judges had the same score after the 10-round 135-pound bout, 95-94, six rounds to four for Colbert (17-1, 6 KOs). Valenzuela won the first round, during which he put Colbert down. That means the judges gave Colbert six of the final nine rounds. That’s hard to swallow. Colbert rebounded from the knockdown to make the fight competitive, landing quick, accurate jabs and combinations at times. However, Valenzuela kept the pressure on Colbert and seemed to land many more power punches than his opponent. That’s why I scored it 96-93 for Valenzuela, six rounds to four in his favor. The Mexican had reason to be upset afterward, particularly because he’s now saddled with consecutive losses. The good news for Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KOs) is that we saw what we saw, a good performance against a good opponent. He’ll be fine. And Colbert, also coming off a setback, took a step in the right direction – even if he didn’t earn it.
BIGGEST WINNER II
Jose Ramirez
We shouldn’t read too much into Ramirez’s 11th-round knockout of Richard Commey on Saturday in Fresno, California, because of Commey’s limitations. The Ghanaian is 0-2-1 in his last three fights and 1-3-1 in his last five. That said, Ramirez looked sharp even though he hadn’t fought in a year, attacking Commey from the outset with passion and efficiency. And he punctuated the strong performance by putting Commey (30-5-1, 27 KOs) down twice in the penultimate round, the second time with a vicious hook to the body that forced him to take a knee and then quit. That’s how you make a statement. Ramirez (28-1, 18 KOs) has now won two consecutive fights since he lost a close decision to Josh Taylor in 2021, which cost him his two world titles. He seems to be back to form. What’s next? He’d like to challenge WBC titleholder Regis Prograis, although he recently passed up a chance to face the champion. Ramirez objected to a 65%-35% purse split in Prograis’ favor mandated by the WBC, which does seem to be overly lopsided given Ramirez’s reputation. We’ll see how this plays out.
RABBIT PUNCHES
The Benavidez-Plant fight was frustrating in a number of respects. First, the ring was a sprawling 22 feet-by-22 feet instead of the standard 20-by-20 in Nevada, as per Plant’s demand during negotiations. He wanted more room to move. Benavidez should be applauded for agreeing to the unusual stipulation; it says a lot about his confidence. However, I was surprised that Nevada officials agreed to it. I always thought they were firm on ring size in the name of consistency. I hope they don’t hand one fighter such a significant advantage again even though it didn’t save Plant in this case. Second, referee Kenny Bayless was awful. Plant’s holding was beyond excessive and Bayless evidently didn’t issue a single warning. He stopped the action to have a doctor look at Plant’s cut in the eighth round even though Benavidez had him hurt, which gave Plant time to recover. And, generally, he was overly intrusive. In other words, he committed the cardinal sin: He became a big part of the story. … For the record: Plant was smart to hold. Bayless just shouldn’t have allowed him to do it as much as he did. … Alvarez appears to be targeting a rematch with Dmitry Bivol in September, assuming the Mexican star beats John Ryder on May 6. He wants to avenge his loss, which is understandable. I hope Alvarez changes his mind and faces Benavidez instead. Boxers always say they want to give the fans the fights they want to see. The fans want Alvarez-Benavidez, not Alvarez-Bivol II. Who wins if it happens? I like Benavidez, even against an Alvarez who is 100% healthy. …
Colbert moved up from 130 pounds to 135 for his fight with Valenzuela. It appeared in the early rounds that Valenzuela, a lightweight since 2020, might be too big and powerful for Colbert. However, after the first round, he took everything that was thrown at him – including many punishing blows — and finished the fight on his feet. Still, he said going into the fight that he planned to move back down to the more natural 130 in an effort to win a major title there. Good idea. It’s difficult to be competitive when you’re the smaller, weaker guy. … Junior middleweight contender Jesus Ramos (20-0, 16 KOs) overwhelmed previously unbeaten Joey Spencer (16-1, 10 KOs) on the Benavidez-Plant card, stopping Spencer in the seventh round as a result of an accumulation of punches. Ramos put Spencer down late in the opening round and more or less landed at will after that, leading Spencer’s cornermen to stop the fight to save their man from getting seriously injured. We shouldn’t’ get carried away with Ramos victory because Spencer was unproven but he looked scary. First, he seemed to be a division or two bigger than Spencer even though he moved up to 154 only two years ago. And, second, his efficient, methodical destruction of yet another opponent once again belied his youth. He’s only 22. I want to see Ramos against a top contender before making any bold statements about him but his ceiling certainly appears to be high. … Seniesa Estrada (24-0, 9 KOs) demonstrated again that she’s one of the best in the business, shutting out Tina Rupprecht (12-1-1, 3 KOs) to unify two 105-pound titles on the Ramirez-Commey card. All three judges scored it 100-90, 10 rounds to none. The Los Angeles native’s goal is to become undisputed champion, which means she’ll now target the holder of the other two major belts, Yokasta Valle (28-2, 9 KOs).
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