It proved to be a highly entertaining Saturday night on March 25th at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas as several controversial decisions were doled out simultaneously with some of the most exciting fights that occurred on the night. David Benavidez, who was featured in the main event along with Caleb Plant, came through as the winner by unanimous decision in the first defense of his WBC interim title, winning decisively with scorecards of 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113.
Caleb Plant (22-2, 13 KO’s), 30, who had been coming off a knockout win over Anthony Direll (34-3-2, 25 KO’s) in October of last year, came in blazing in the first couple of rounds with a lot of energy and activity when he outboxed David Benavidez (27-0, 23 KO’s), 26, with his speed and movement in the ring. Determined to see home victory that would see him become the WBC interim champion at Super Middleweight, Plant expended a lot of energy the first half of the fight with the intention to clearly damage Benavidez.
However, Benavidez, nicknamed ‘The Mexican Monster’ by Mike Tyson himself, proved his moniker justice when the fight transitioned into the latter half of the twelve rounds. Though Plant had tried to supplant him with his jabs and quick combinations, Benavidez’ guard remained solid throughout. Though the Mexican-American fighter seemed tentative in throwing his hands, Plant failed to find a way through and eventually seemed to have gassed out.
Capitalizing on Plant’s vulnerability, Benavidez stepped up his own gas pedal with numerous combinations and power punches that clearly buckled Caleb Plant. Though Plant seemed to lose every single one of the championship rounds, his toughness and resilience somehow kept him standing despite Benavidez looking for the knockout. Despite his clear warrior spirit, Plant’s performance was heavily marred by his constant holding, which became even more pronounced in the latter stage of the fight.
On a fight night that would have otherwise been Benavidez knockout, referee Kenny Bayless who preceded over the match, showed an uncanny amount of bias in the way he allowed Plant to continuously hold Benavidez. Noticeably, Plant at certain points throughout the match, seemed to struggle to remain standing and reverted to holding Benavidez in desperation. Inexplicably, the referee allowed the constant holding by Plant which made for widespread controversy following the results of the fight.
David Benavidez noticeably had several rounds in which he seemed to have Caleb Plant on the ropes – figuratively and literally – but referee Bayless prevented the fighter from damaging Plant by constantly pulling both fighters apart when Benavidez sought to work his way out of Plant’s clinches and holds.
By the championship rounds – rounds ten to twelve, Plant was merely holding on to life as Benavidez kept landing debilitating shots that should’ve at least dropped Caleb Plant in one of those three rounds, but the referee’s constant interference stopped whatever stoppage or knockout victory Benavidez could have landed on the night. After twelve rounds, Benavidez was announced the winner by unanimous decision following a quite dominant performance in the second half of the fight which saw him course to a win that unfortunately didn’t lead to a finish.
Overall, the fight proved to be a showcase night for Benavidez who seemed to be either patient or unwilling to throw the combinations he had been known for. Plant showed an extraordinary amount of spirit and will by the way he fought despite the damage – which included a facial injury, while renowned referee Kenny Bayless received the brunt of criticism by announcers and commentators alike for his clear favoritism towards Caleb Plant, or at the very least his inability to allow a steady rhythm within the fight by allowing the constant holding by Plant.
The fight card further featured an exciting undercard match between Lightweight prospects Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KO’s) and Chris Colbert (17-1, 6 KO’s). Notably, it was the unanimous decision afforded towards the latter that drew much discussion given Valenzuela had landed an impressive amount of power punches along with netting a knockdown over Colbert in the first round.
Despite the early knockdown and putting Colbert on the ropes several times where he unleashed a slew of hard-hitting combinations, Rayo Valenzuela failed to fully capitalize on his greater strength, plus his height and reach advantages, and couldn’t finish Colbert off when the opportunities presented themselves. Chris Colbert even rallied following his first knockdown, and despite his own quick punches doing little damage, the fighter kept up a tremendous work rate.
Valenzuela also proved no worse a competitor with his accurate and powerful combinations and shots, making for what seemed to be a pretty even-sided bout. With Chris Colbert struggling plenty of times with Valenzuela’s onslaught of punches, there was a clear indication that Valenzuela had done enough to win the fight, but Colbert’s ability to constantly come back and push Valenzuela – despite seemingly not really damaging Valenzuela – likely skewed the judges scorecards in favor of Colbert.
Following their match and the announcement of results which picked Colbert as the winner with three equal scores of 95-94, Colbert and Valenzuela briefly bickered in the post-match interview where Colbert derided Valenzuela for being unable to accept a loss, while Valenzuela continued expressing the belief that he had won.
The WBC Welterweight final eliminator between Cody Crowley (22-0, 9 KO’s) and Abel Ramos (27-6-2, 21 KO’s) was also an intriguing clash between styles, with Crowley acting more the role of a technician while Ramos often waded in to brawl with the Canadian. Crowley eventually won by a close majority decision after a tough fight for both. Based on a slightly greater work rate and efficiency within the ring, it is Crowley that won through according to the judges’ scorecards of 114-114, 116-112 and 115-113. He will now be facing the winner of the recently announced WBC Welterweight interim championship bout between Yordenis Ugas (27-5, 12 KO’s) and Mario Barrios (27-2, 18 KO’s).
With the retention of his WBC interim title, Benavidez is in pole position to face the undisputed champion of the division, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO’s), but will likely have to wait for some time as Canelo Alvarez first looks to make it past WBO mandatory John Ryder (32-5, 18 KO’s), while he has also teased a fight with Dmitry Bivol if he manages to win.
