Tag Archives: Jose Uzcategui

David Benavidez to Fight Caleb Plant in Las Vegas This March

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David Benavidez is heading back to the ring in March…

The 26-year-old Mexican and Ecuadorian American professional boxer, a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, will meet Caleb Plant in a long-awaited fight on March 25 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, according to ESPN.

David BenavidezThe 168-pound bout will be a PBC on Showtime PPV.

Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) and Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) both announced in November that they struck a deal for the grudge match. They’ve traded plenty of barbs in both directions, and it all leads to a fascinating clash of styles.

Benavidez is a volume-punching pressure fighter who’s been among boxing’s most avoided fighters.

Plant, 30, is a stick-and-move boxer whose only defeat came last November in an 11th-round TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion. But after Alvarez, Benavidez and Plant are widely considered the two best fighters who campaign at 168 pounds (Benavidez is ESPN’s No. 2 super middleweight; Plant is No. 3).

“You can’t hide from me anymore, I’ll see you soon,” Benavidez wrote on Instagram in November.

“I went and made it happen,” Plant wrote. “Contract signed. See you early next year.”

Benavidez was slated to meet Jose Uzcategui in January before the fight was scrapped. The Phoenix-born boxer twice held a super middleweight title but both times lost his belt outside the ring.

First, a positive test for cocaine in 2018 led to him being stripped. Benavidez regained the title with a ninth-round KO of Anthony Dirrell in 2019 but was forced to relinquish his belt the following year when he failed to make weight.

Most recently, Benavidez scored a third-round TKO of former middleweight titleholder David Lemieux in May.

Plant, who fights out of Las Vegas, won the IBF super middleweight title in 2019 with a unanimous decision victory over Uzcategui. He made three successful defenses before he lost the belt in the undisputed championship fight against Alvarez.

Plant rebounded last month with a spectacular ninth-round KO of Dirrell.

David Benavidez Agrees to Fight Caleb Plant in Early 2023

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David Benavidez is headed back to the ring for a highly anticipated bout…

The 25-year-old Mexican and Ecuadorian American boxer and Caleb Plant, both former super middleweight titleholders, have announced that they’ve struck a deal for a long-awaited fight.

David BenavidezThe 168-pound bout will be presented by Premier Boxing Champions on pay-per-view in the first quarter of 2023, according to ESPN.

Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) and Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) have circled each other for years with plenty of barbs in both directions. Besides a genuine grudge, Benavidez-Plant is a fascinating clash of styles.

Benavidez is a volume-punching pressure fighter who’s been among boxing’s most avoided fighters.

Plant, 30, is a stick-and-move boxer whose only defeat came last November in an 11th-round TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion.

But after Alvarez, Benavidez and Plant are widely considered the two best fighters who campaign at 168 pounds (Benavidez is ESPN’s No. 2 super middleweight; Plant is No. 3).

“You can’t hide from me anymore, I’ll see you soon,” Benavidez wrote on Instagram.

“I went and made it happen,” Plant wrote. “Contract signed. See you early next year.”

Benavidez was slated to meet Jose Uzcategui in January before the fight was scrapped. The Phoenix-born boxer twice held a super middleweight title but both times lost his belt outside the ring.

First, a positive test for cocaine in 2018 led to him being stripped. Benavidez regained the title with a ninth-round KO of Anthony Dirrell in 2019 but was forced to relinquish his belt the following year when he failed to make weight.

Most recently, Benavidez scored a third-round TKO of former middleweight titleholder David Lemieux in May.

Plant, who fights out of Las Vegas, won the IBF super middleweight title in 2019 with a unanimous decision victory over Uzcategui. He made three successful defenses before he lost the belt in the undisputed championship fight against Alvarez.

Plant rebounded last month with a spectacular ninth-round KO of Dirrell.

David Benavidez in Final Talks to Fight Jose Uzcategui in Super Middleweight Bout

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David Benavidez is nearing a deal to return to the ring…

The 25-year-old Mexican and Ecuadorian American professional boxer, a two-time WBC super middleweight champion is finalizing a deal with Jose Uzcategui for a super middleweight bout slated for January, according to ESPN.

David BenavidezThe pair were set to square off in November 2021 before Uzcategui tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug rEPO (recombinant erythropoietin), a synthetic version of EPO. Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) instead faced Kyrone Davis and scored a seventh-round stoppage.

 

Benavidez went on to defeat former middleweight titleholder David Lemieux via third-round TKO in May, but the marquee matchups continue to elude Benavidez, perhaps boxing’s most avoided fighter.

He has called for a fight with boxing’s top star, Canelo Alvarez, along with bouts against fellow PBC boxers Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo.

With a win over Uzcategui, Benavidez will remain in prime position for one of those matchups.

ESPN‘s No. 2 boxer at 168 pounds, Benavidez is feared for good reason. He’s over 6 feet tall, throws a seemingly endless amount of punches and does so with tremendous power.

He twice held a super middleweight title but both times lost his title outside the ring. First, a positive cocaine test led to him being stripped. Benavidez regained the title with a ninth-round KO of Anthony Dirrell in 2019 but was forced to relinquish his belt the following year when he failed to make weight.

Benavidez will look to continue his impressive string of stoppage victories against Uzcategui, a former super middleweight titleholder. A Venezuelan boxer who fights out of Mexico, Uzcategui (32-4, 26 KOs) has fought once since the revelation of the banned substance, a second-round KO of journeyman Felipe Romero in May.

The 31-year-old’s career-best victory remains an eighth-round TKO of former titleholder Andre Dirrell in 2018. Uzcategui went on to lose his title to Caleb Plant via decision in 2019. Two fights later, Uzcategui dropped a decision to Lionel Thompson in an upset.

Now, he’ll head into a fight with Benavidez as a major underdog against the backdrop of his failed drug test last year.

“EPO is possibly the most powerful PED that can be used by a boxer,” Victor Conte, the founder of Balco, told ESPN last year after news broke of Uzcategui’s adverse finding. Conte served time in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute performance-enhancing drugs before founding SNAC, a sports nutrition company.

“It increases oxygen uptake and utilization which drastically improves stamina and endurance,” he said. “Some have described the benefits to making an athlete like a machine.”