Oscar Valdez will rematch Adam Lopez on the show as well

Those eager to see Devin Haney defend his undisputed titles against Vasiliy Lomachenko but Oscar Valdez vs Adam Lopez 2 will be happy to learn that the cavalry is coming, as two much more intriguing bouts will join the May 20th show in Las Vegas.

The Sydney Morning Herald, confirming an earlier report from Jake Donovan, brings word that former flyweight champion Junto Nakatani (24-0, 19 KO) will face Andrew Moloney (25-2, 16 KO) for the vacant WBO super flyweight title formerly held by Kazuto Ioka. Nakatani made a smooth transition from 112 to 115 with a wide decision over the capable Francisco Rodriguez Jr and Moloney has won four straight since his trilogy with Joshua Franco.

For my money, this is a case of a very good fighter in Moloney facing a genuinely special one in Nakatani.

In other action, Raymond Muratalla (17-0, 14 KO) makes an incredibly quick and incredibly bold turnaround against Jeremiah Nakathila (23-2, 19 KO). Muratalla fought through a hard knockdown to stop Humberto Galindo two days ago on the Ramirez vs Commey undercard and faces the toughest test of his career in Nakathila, who put the memory of his ugly loss to Shakur Sevenson behind him by mauling Miguel Berchelt last March.

The cost is $10 more than Gervonta Davis’ last fight

Showtime’s April 22nd Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia pay-per-view is the most anticipated event on the boxing schedule, but those hoping for a consumer-friendly price point are out of luck, as the network announced today that the card will run you $84.99.

For comparison’s sake, that’s $10 more than last Saturday’s David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant show and Davis’ (28-0, 26 KO) stoppage of Hector Luis Garcia earlier this year.

I can’t say I don’t see the reasoning. Like Floyd-Pacquiao back in the day, there’s enough buzz here to draw in non-boxing fans who don’t feel compelled to budget for every noteworthy event. The price tag is still horrific on its own, of course, but it’s less so for those who don’t have to potentially choose between it and Canelo vs Ryder two weeks later.

Man, though, this doesn’t feel sustainable. Combat sports are uniquely fan-unfriendly in a number of ways and price is one of the biggest. There are fighters like Davis and Garcia (23-0, 19 KO) who’ve reached the mainstream, but it’s hard to build up someone’s profile when it costs several days’ worth of food just to see them in action once.

Hopefully there’s at least a decent undercard; all I’ve heard mentioned so far is one solid heavyweight tussle.

Chris Colbert didn’t like Jose Valenzuela’s reaction to official decision, and says now he’s going back to 130.

Immediately following his close unanimous decision win over Jose Valenzuela on Saturday night, Chris Colbert appeared at the post-fight press conference as retracted his offer of giving Valenzuela a rematch of highly debatable decision.

Colbert would edge the fight on official scores of 95-94, while BLH scored the fight 95-94 in favor on Valenzuela on two different scorecards, and a considerable majority of social media responses said that Valenzuela deserved the win.

But considering how much displeasure Valenzuela displayed in the ring over the decision, Colbert says he’s no longer interested in offering him a rematch, saying he’s just a sore loser.

“This is boxing,” Colbert said. “Sometimes you’re going to face adversity but you just never get respected. When they gonna respect me? I came off a 13-month layoff, got into the ring with a 135 pounder that’s way bigger than me, and I swam with sharks. I got dropped, got up, and won the fight. When they gonna respect me?

“I knew it was a close fight. I’m an honest critic to myself, I knew it was a close fight. I said ‘Damn, that knockdown, might be a draw. I don’t want no draw, I want to win.’ But in boxing sometimes you’re gonna win pretty, and sometimes you ain’t. Today just wasn’t a pretty win but it don’t matter, I got the win.

“I can’t really say his power was like nothing crazy. Every time I can say that he really caught me with those unleashing shots is because every time he first throw the left hand, he would thumb me in my eye and it would blind my vision. Every time with the left hand it would blind my vision, and then I would tighten up and he would just start throwing. But I know every time that he did that he’s gonna get tired.

“And ‘35 was just to come back, just to prove something, but I’m going back down to my weight class.”

Then, when Colbert was asked if he would give Valenzuela a rematch as he offered in the ring, he gave a quick response.

“Fuck no,” Colbert immediately responded. “He was being a sore loser. He should’ve never been a sore loser. If he would’ve took the loss like a man I would’ve gave him a rematch, like I took my loss like a man when I lost. I’d have gave him a rematch but he was being a sore loser so now he ain’t getting nothing.”

David Benavidez firmly established himself as No. 2 at 168 with his win over Caleb Plant, plus more in this week’s update!

Rankings go up on Mondays.

Ranked fights this week:

• Heavyweight: (4) Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin, Apr. 1
• Light Heavyweight: (8) Craig Richards vs Ricards Bolotniks, Apr. 1
• Junior Lightweight: (7) Kenichi Ogawa vs Krai Setthaphon, Apr. 1
• Featherweight: (7) Isaac Dogboe vs (8) Robeisy Ramirez, Apr. 1
• Bantamweight: (7) Ryosuke Nishida vs Songsaeng Phoyaem, Apr. 1

Upcoming Fights: (4) Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin, Apr. 1 ... (5) Joe Joyce vs Zhilei Zhang, Apr. 15

Notes: Lawrence Okolie is BACK! Okolie’s win over David Light showed what a great move Boxxer and Sky made in getting him from Matchrooooooooppppp[[‘.’;mkl;///’

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Notes: We’ve got a new man in at No. 10. Dan Azeez may be 33 and at a career ceiling, more likely than not, but he’s the European champion and, well, this division isn’t great right now.

Jean Pascal falls out. Even if the judges had robbed Michael Eifert — which they thankfully didn’t — last Thursday, Pascal was going out. He’s got very little left. I thought his win over Meng Fanlong last year was, you know, questionable, and honestly, it’s been a while (years!) since Pascal actually looked good in a fight.

But I don’t think Eifert is the guy for the top 10 right now, either. I wouldn’t pick Eifert over Azeez, though maybe I’m just wrong about that. They could fight and figure it out — it would actually be a really good European title fight — but Eifert is now in line for a fight with Artur Beterbiev, because the Pascal fight was, ridiculously, an IBF eliminator.

Lyndon Arthur won on Friday, beating late notice opponent Boris Crighton over 10 rounds in Bolton. It’s as exciting as I’m making it sound.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Craig Richards vs Ricards Bolotniks, Apr. 1 ... (3) Joshua Buatsi vs Pawel Stepien, May 6

Notes: We had some notable results this past week, obviously. David Benavidez firmly and clearly established himself as the No. 2 man in the division by beating Caleb Plant, and he’ll now hope to get Canelo Alvarez in September. It seems unlikely, but it’s not impossible or anything.

Plant drops from No. 3 to No. 4, behind David Morrell Jr. I think Plant is a damn good fighter, skilled and tough as hell, and I debated what to do here. He’s been competitive against both Canelo and Benavidez, at least until he wasn’t. Canelo got him out; a different referee last night, and Benavidez probably gets him out, too, either because that referee just stops it, or they do something about Plant’s blatant holding, allowing Benavidez to force that himself.

I think Morrell’s a really good fighter, and when you break down who they’ve beaten, not just who they have fought and lost to, are the resumes of Plant and Morrell so dissimilar, even with Morrell only having eight fights? I don’t share some peoples’ belief that Jose Uzcategui was ever a true top fighter, more a “time and place and circumstances” guy. What I’m saying is I don’t mean to “penalize” Caleb Plant for taking high-end fights and coming up valiantly short, I just think Morrell is good enough to, for the time being, take that No. 3 slot just ahead of Caleb, but it is debatable.

Nobody else has earned being above Plant, though, even with the two losses in his last three. Again, we’re talking very high level; Canelo was proven and Benavidez proved out. There is potential down the list, though.

Christian Mbilli jumps up to the No. 5 slot after a good win over Carlos Gongora, who drops down to No. 8. I know Gongora came back and beat Ali Akhmedov, now ranked a spot ahead of him, but that was over two years ago, and I think Gongora has lost a little something. Gongora is 33 and toiled away in obscurity during what should have been the bulk of his true prime years. I feel like he missed the boat to a degree, but he is still tricky and crafty and could be a great opponent to test fighters on that cusp the way Mbilli was, someone who needs a legit test.

Lerrone Richards, by the way, should be back in in about a month, as he has a fight tentatively scheduled for April 22, so he’ll be back in the mix if he wins there. Right now, it’s slated to be a six-rounder just to get him back in the ring. Hopefully, he finds a decent fight after that, but promoters really aren’t keen on him, either. It’s a York Hall show, but it’s a small York Hall show.

Upcoming Fights: (1) Canelo Alvarez vs (5) John Ryder, May 6

Upcoming Fights: (4) Carlos Adames vs Julian Williams, June 24

Notes: Joey Spencer wanted a challenge and a chance to prove himself against a guy more highly-regarded in Jesus Ramos. He got it, and Ramos demolished him.

Spencer didn’t look like a guy who fully lacks potential or ability or anything, but he’s just not developed enough a fighter for someone like Ramos. The mistakes he made wouldn’t have been punished against someone closer to a normal step-up from where he’d been to date, or at least not all of the mistakes, and maybe none of them so harshly. As many of us suspected would be the case, Ramos was just the drastically better fighter. Ramos had already beaten people better than Spencer, and it showed in the ring.

I still admire Spencer’s determination to go out and get it, and a loss does not have to signal the end of his aspirations in the sport. Get back on the ladder where you were and go back to it. He definitely has real heart and grit; he never gave up on that fight, his corner did the right thing calling it when they did.

As for Ramos, he’s got such a big body that at 22 he’s already grown out of 147 and may grow out of 154 before he gets a chance to get into the title mix, but with the Charlo situation any or all belts could go vacant by the end of this year, so he might have time, too. He’s still a very promising fighter; I don’t know that he has elite future ahead of him, but he looks to me like a guy who will be a contender for quite a while. And it’s worth remembering how young he is, too.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Sebastian Fundora vs Brian Mendoza, Apr. 8 ... (7) Israil Madrimov vs Raphael Igbokwe, Apr. 8 ... (6) Erickson Lubin vs Luis Arias, June 24

Notes: First off: Yes, there are once again Spence vs Crawford rumblings. There’s a reason Spence vs Thurman hasn’t been signed (or explicitly not signed). Don’t get your hopes up or hold your breath, really, but yes the chatter is out there again.

Cody Crowley won again on Saturday, beating Abel Ramos in what shouldn’t have been but was a WBC eliminator. That puts Crowley, in theory, in line for one of the three belts held by Spence. My gut feeling is that Crowley may wind up fighting for an interim title, something the WBC just love these days, and if Spence fights Crawford, that order could be Thurman vs Crowley.

Crowley is a good, all-engine fighter, sort of a “blue collar” type, which is meant as a compliment; a high-end “blue collar” type of fighter. He throws and throws and throws, he says what he’s going to do and then he goes out and does it. That leaves him open to getting hit, yes, and Ramos rocked him good in that fight. But at a certain level, you really do have to be ready to throw with him. Ramos was, and it was a good fight. Higher level opponents likely aren’t going to try to do that, instead relying on, you know, their skills, and no, I don’t personally see him as a serious threat to a Spence or Crawford, more a Canadian David Avanesyan sort of guy, but he’s going out and winning fights and making his case to get the chance.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Vergil Ortiz Jr vs (7) Eimantas Stanionis, Apr. 29

Notes: I wasn’t terribly enthused by what I saw from Jose Ramirez against Richard Commey, but it’s still a decent win, and Jose did it in fashion in the end. The proof will be in the pudding with Ramirez going forward, but my suspicion is he’s not going to silence “the haters” by taking the Prograis fight now, but instead wait to see what happens with the Josh Taylor vs Teofimo Lopez situation.

Part of that is out of his hands, Top Rank are going to be willing to pay what they’re willing to pay for Prograis vs Ramirez, a fight that is not “big box office” — Ramirez can sell a lot of tickets in Fresno, yes, but they are not Vegas-priced tickets by any stretch of the imagination, and he and Prograis are not major draws anywhere else. Plus, with Prograis not being a Top Rank fighter, the truth is Top Rank do not naturally have the inclination to make that fight that they would if Prograis were an in-house guy.

Ramirez against Lopez (Top Rank will undoubtedly truly hope it’s Lopez, though no one there will just say that) is not just all-Top Rank, it is simply a bigger fight. Lopez vs Ramirez in New York is a much bigger fight than Prograis vs Ramirez anywhere, and they’ll make a lot more money from it. That’s just a reality.

I do think you could argue that Subriel Matias looks better than Ramirez right now, and I thought about a switcheroo there. I pulled the trigger on putting Gary Antuanne Russell a spot ahead of Jose Zepeda. I think, right now, as we speak, Russell is a better fighter than Zepeda, who beat an annoying mediocrity on Saturday in Mexico to get back in the win column. Listen, Russell’s fighting Kent Cruz next, and that’s not great, but he’s put together solid wins, and truthfully, Zepeda is 33 and has probably had his best shots to win a world title come and go. He’s about to slide into the back stretch of his career. That doesn’t mean he’s not still good and not still dangerous, mind you. This is a terrific division and there are seriously good fighters beyond just this top 10, which is not the case for every weight class. Or many of them.

Upcoming Fights: (8) Ryan Garcia vs Gervonta Davis, Apr. 22 ... (6) Gary Antuanne Russell vs Kent Cruz, May 13 ... (2) Josh Taylor vs (9) Teofimo Lopez, June 10

Notes: With due respect to the back five to seven here, Shakur Stevenson is about to gate-crash the April 10 update, provided he beats Shuichiro Yoshino in the fashion he’s been beating everyone else.

Upcoming Fights: (3) Gervonta Davis vs Ryan Garcia [junior welterweight, technically], Apr. 22 ... (1) Devin Haney vs (2) Vasiliy Lomachenko, May 20 ... (5) George Kambosos Jr vs (10) Maxi Hughes, TBA

Upcoming Fights: (7) Kenichi Ogawa vs Krai Setthaphon, Apr. 1 ... (2) Joe Cordina vs (3) Shavkat Rakhimov, Apr. 22 ... (9) Zelfa Barrett vs Alex Dilmaghani, Apr. 22

Upcoming Fights: (7) Isaac Dogboe vs (8) Robeisy Ramirez, Apr. 1 ... (5) Luis Alberto Lopez vs Michael Conlan, May 27

Upcoming Fights: (2) Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs (6) Marlon Tapales, Apr. 8 ... (9) Liam Davies vs Jason Cunningham, Apr. 29 ... (1) Stephen Fulton Jr vs Naoya Inoue, TBA

Notes: The first of the four title vacancies will be filled on April 8, when Takuma Inoue faces Liborio Solis for the WBA belt in Japan. The winner will wind up ranked, most likely. (You have to say most likely because it’s boxing and there’s always a chance the winner will be the winner because of some horrendous miscarriage of justice.)

Upcoming Fights: (7) Ryosuke Nishida vs Songsaeng Phoyaem, Apr. 1 ... (3) Vincent Astrolabio vs (4) Jason Moloney, May 13 ... (1) Nonito Donaire vs (9) Alexandro Santiago, TBA ... (2) Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Melvin Lopez, TBA

Notes: Wangek, aka Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, got a win on Saturday in Bangkok, beating Pipat Chaiporn via third round stoppage. That was a bantamweight fight, but Wangek has had stay-busy fights at 118 before and returned to 115 for more serious outings, so we’ll see what he’s going to do for a more serious fight next time he schedules one.

By the way, the change in the rankings to birth names for fighters from Thailand is part of what seems to be a general boxing media sweep of using the birth names from now on. I think most places are still going to call Wangek “Srisaket Sor Rungvisai,” and we’ll always make it clear in news stories and stuff that that’s the case with him, but being honest, that’s mainly because “Western” boxing media have seen him a bunch, unlike, well, most of his countrymen, no matter if they’re top fighters or not. But it seems like something that’s going to be done more and more, so I figured we might as well get on board now. It will also make it easier for people to search BoxRec and see who the heck we’re talking about if they’re not already familiar.

Upcoming Fights: (2) Fernando Martinez vs Jade Bornea, June 24

Notes: Either Jesse Rodriguez or Cristian Gonzalez — potentially both, I guess! — will be splashing down into the flyweight rankings in April 10 update.

Upcoming Fights: TBA

Upcoming Fights: (1) Kenshiro Teraji vs TBA, Apr. 8

Upcoming Fights: (1) Panya Padabsri vs (10) Yudai Shigeoka, Apr. 16 ... (4) Ginjiro Shigeoka vs Rene Mark Cuarto, Apr. 16

Notes: Seniesa Estrada unified a pair of 105 lb titles on Saturday, beating Tina Rupprecht in a one-sided decision on the Top Rank show. Yokasta Valle retained a pair of 105 lb titles on Saturday, beating Jessica Basulto in a one-sided decision in Costa Rica.

Estrada says she wants further unification, and the only further unification at 105 is Valle. It’s the fight to make. Hopefully they make it.

Upcoming Fights: (6) Mikaela Mayer vs Christina Linardatou, Apr. 15 ... (2) Katie Taylor vs (8) Chantelle Cameron, May 20

David Benavidez takes media questions about his big win over Caleb Plant last night.

Immediately following his unanimous decision win over Caleb Plant, David Benavidez appeared at the post-fight press conference to discuss his thoughts on the fight and why he believes he deserves to move on to a bigger opportunity. Benavidez also says now that his fight with Plant is over, so is their beef, and now it’s Canelo Alvarez he wants to focus on.

Benavidez on what allowed him to be victorious over Plant

“The main thing is I wanted to be patient. I mean, Caleb Plant is a great counter puncher, as you can see he’s really fast. I didn’t want to go in there and just get countered with any shots. I really had to take my time. I think you guys seen a good jab, my jab was may more effective than Caleb Plant’s. You guys were talking about Caleb Plant having the more effective jab and stuff like that.

“But as soon as I got in there — the fight is not a four or six round fight, it’s a 12 round fight so you got to start slow. But as soon as I found my groove there was nothing you could do to stop me. I hurt him to the body, hurt him to the head, cut the ring off pretty good. And like I said, I’m just satisfied with this. There’s a lot of things I can fix in my game but overall I’m satisfied with this. This is my first fight PPV, this is the biggest fight I’ve ever been in, the biggest fight in my life, and I felt like I did amazing.

“We went out there, I told you I was gonna put a beating on Caleb Plant. That’s exactly what I did.”

On squashing his beef with Plant after the fight

“I just told him man-to-man, ‘sorry for all the trash talk.’ We went at each other, we talked a lot of shit to each other, and a lot of it — I’m not gonna say it wasn’t necessary because it was necessary because this fight was huge, it was a huge fight, and sometimes that’s what you need to bring out the best in the two men.

“And we’re both warriors. He’s a warrior, he definitely showed it, but I showed I’m the better warrior and I wanted the opportunity to be challenged by a top super middleweight. He’s definitely top three, I’m top two, the number one is Canelo. So we both had a lot to fight for. The winner is supposedly gonna get Canelo so I pute everything into this training camp.

“At the end of the day I don’t want to hold no grudges against nobody. I’ll only do that if we’re building a fight or something, but after that there’s no need. I’m not the type of guy, I’ve never been that type of guy, so I have nothing but respect for Caleb Plant and I’m happy he gets to go home to his family safe.”

On not being able to force the stoppage like he promised

“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the stoppage but you guys seen how his face looked. He was really bloody and I was really imposing my will. I beat him up really good and I’m not really satisfied because I didn’t get the knockout but this is a great way to get a victory — just a dominating performance.

“There’s a lot of things I can tweak in my game to make sure I get the stoppage next time. But also I feel like, I don’t want to throw Kenny Bayless under the bus but he didn’t call Caleb Plant out in any of the clinches he was doing the whole fight. I think if Kenny Bayless would’ve said something about the clinches, maybe would’ve stopped Caleb from trying to clinch and I would’ve clipped him.

“But I was hurting him a lot of times, busted his eye open, hurt him to the body, and I can still get better. I am satisfied with this performance, I’m not gonna say I’m not. I’m very satisfied.”

On wanting the Canelo fight

“I feel like Canelo Alvarez, he needs these fights, a big fighter like me. This is a really big fight, as you can see me and Caleb Plant was a huge fight, so I think it would do huge PPV numbers.

“Let’s just take it back to fighting, man. I want to prove myself. Canelo’s proved himself but I feel like he needs to give me the opportunity too. And it’s not like I’m begging for something, I’ve been mandatory for the past two fights. So it’s something I’ve earned, especially after this fight.

Anthony Joshua returns against Jermaine Franklin, Robeisy Ramirez faces Isaac Dogboe, and more.

Wednesday, March 29

DAZN and Social Media, 9:00 am ET, Joshua vs Franklin press conference.

Thursday, March 30

ESPN+ and Social Media, 2:00 pm ET, Ramirez vs Dogboe press conference.

Friday, March 31

DAZN and Social Media, 7:30 am ET, Joshua vs Franklin weigh-in.

ESPN+ and Social Media, 2:00 pm ET, Ramirez vs Dogboe weigh-in.

Channel 5 (UK), TBA, Harlem Eubank vs Christian Uruzquieta.

Saturday, April 1

FITE PPV, 4:00 am ET, Floyd Masson vs Fabio Turchi. Masson is a 31-year-old Aussie cruiserweight, stepping up a bit on paper with Italy’s Turchi, who is 4-2 in his last six with losses to Tommy McCarthy and Richard Riakporhe, but should be a live dog here. Live from Brisbane and $14.99 on FITE.

DAZN and Social Media, TBA, Joshua vs Franklin prelims. Expect to see Austin Williams vs River Wilson-Bent on this portion of the show, or they could do five fights on the main card as Matchroom have wanted to set up Williams against Felix Cash, and Cash fights later on the show. Campbell Hatton, Jordan Flynn, John Hedges, Ziyad Almaayouf, Peter Kadiru, and Juergen Uldedaj are also slated for action. BLH will have live coverage.

DAZN, 2:00 pm ET, Anthony Joshua vs Jermaine Franklin. Feels like Joshua’s “smallest” fight since his Sept. 2015 win over Gary Cornish, and it’s the first fight he’s had since his Dec. 2015 win over Dillian Whyte that hasn’t been for any world title. It could be good for him. AJ has been training in Texas with Derrick James; this is no kinda half-in, half-out thing like he had with Robert Garcia, he’s been fully in with James. The undercard features Matteo Signani vs Felix Cash for the European middleweight title, Craig Richards vs Ricards Bolotniks, and Fabio Wardley vs Michael Coffie. BLH will have live coverage.

ESPN+, 7:00 pm ET, Ramirez vs Dogboe prelims. Jahi Tucker, Tiger Johnson, Jeremiah Milton, Abdullah Mason, Rohan Polanco, Emiliano Vargas, and Dante Benjamin Jr will be in action.

ESPN+, 10:00 pm ET, Robeisy Ramirez vs Isaac Dogboe. Could be a 9 pm ET start for the main card, could be 10 pm ET, we’ll know for sure on Thursday or Friday at the latest. The vacant WBO featherweight title is on the line as Ramirez looks to win his first pro title, and Dogboe looks to become a two-weight world champion. Xander Zayas is injured, so his planned “co-feature” is off, meaning Joet Gonzalez gets bumped to that slot against Jose Enrique Vivas. BLH will have live coverage.

David Benavidez earned his win over Caleb Plant tonight.

David Benavidez got the big grudge match win tonight over Caleb Plant, but how exactly did the judges score the fight?

Well let’s take a look!

Here’s how the judges scored it, round-by-round (thanks to Showtime Boxing):

Through three rounds: Plant led 29-28, 29-28, and 30-27 through three rounds, with judge Tim Cheatham — who actually wound up with the closest score, 115-113 for Benavidez — having it a shutout in Plant’s favor.

Through six rounds: Cheatham had it 59-55 through six, scoring the fight clearly for Plant, while judge Dave Moretti had it 58-56 for Plant and judge Steven Weisfeld had it 57-57, all evened up at the midway point.

Through nine rounds: After nine, the fight had tilted in Benavidez’s favor. He led 87-84 on Weisfeld’s card, and 86-85 on Moretti’s. Plant still had a narrow lead on Cheatham’s card at 86-85, but with Benavidez winning four straight.

Down the stretch: Benavidez dominated the stretch run and, in fact, the entire second half of the fight. He won the last three rounds on every card; in fact, he won the last six rounds on every single card.

My card that doesn’t matter: I gave Plant the opening two, then had Benavidez evening things up through four. It was 57-57 through six, but from that sixth round on, I agree it was all David Benavidez, and he wound up a 116-112 winner for me.

How did you score the fight?

Jose Ramirez was too much for a resilient Richard Commey, and Seniesa Estrada picked up another 105 pound belt

Jose Ramirez started hot and finished strong in front of an adoring crowd in Fresno, California, finishing Richard Commey in the 11th round on a sweeping left hook to the liver.

This was a two-mode fight that started and ended with Ramirez (28-1, 18 KO) pressing and bullying in dominant fashion. In between, Commey (30-5-1, 27 KO) rallied impressively when he managed to stay clear of the ropes and corner and keep Ramirez at distance.

Things seemed destined for an early finish, as Ramirez had Commey shaken, cornered, and hanging on for dear life within the first minute of Round 1. Commey seemed eager to keep things in close, which didn’t go well for him as Ramirez unloaded with body hooks and uppercuts. The tight quarters also allowed Ramirez to trap Commey consistently in the first few rounds. And while Commey blocked most of what came his way, he didn’t catch them all, and did little in return to keep Ramirez off of him.

Things swung in the middle rounds, as Commey used a long jab to maintain separation. He was much more successful that way, picking up a few rounds and limiting what had worked so well for Ramirez early. Ramirez seemed surprisingly passive in the later rounds, until coming out hot in the 11th and landing a fight-changing knockdown. Whether from damage to Commey or confidence for Ramirez, it was all one way from then on, ending on a left hook to the body that sent Commey to a knee he needed more than 10 seconds to get back up from.

It’s the first knockout win in almost four years for Jose Ramirez, and a resilient performance in defeat for Richard Commey. Commey isn’t young, and he may not have a championship ceiling at 140 pounds, but he’ll be a stiff test for second tier contenders if he chooses to keep fighting. As for Ramirez? No telling what his plans are after hastily abandoning a mandatory shot at Regis Prograis. ESPN+ cut the post-fight short, and any interview clips online so far make no mention of his future intentions.

Ramirez vs Commey highlights

Undercard highlights and results

Seniesa Estrada UD-10 Tina Rupprecht

Bafflingly wide scorecards in what was actually a very well-matched and exciting fight in the co-feature between Seniesa Estrada and Tina Rupprecht.

First things first, Estrada (24-0, 9 KO) looked very good tonight. She was moving constantly, and had a much more active jab. But, the official scores of 100-90 from all three judges are insulting to Rupprecht (12-1-1, 3 KO), who slipped and blocked a ton of punches, and did brilliant work with counter hooks. Rupprecht snapped Estrada’s head back on multiple occasions and left Estrada with marks and swelling on both sides of her face.

Unofficially, Bad Left Hook had it 96-94 for Estrada, and that was with more than a couple of debatable rounds tallied in Rupprecht’s favor. So, wider cards in Estrada’s favor were expected. Still, three clean sweep cards are an insult to a very good fight between two worthy champions.

Estrada finished strong, and deservedly leaves with what used to be Rupprecht’s WBC belt at 105 pounds to pair with the WBA title she already had. But, this was a much, much better fight than the official scores imply. Don’t hesitate to catch a replay if you missed it live.

Antonio Mireles SD-6 Patrick Mailata

Antonio Mireles is known for spectacle and novelty, not necessarily craft and fluidity. That can generate some quality entertainment, which is exactly what we got in a heavy-handed big boy six-round opener between him and Patrick Mailata. Or, as one of our live coverage commenters called it: “half a ton of fun.”

Mireles (7-0, 6 KO) looked very unsure what to do whenever Mailata (6-2, 3 KO) pressured him. He looked even more discombobulated when Mailata caught him on the temple late in the 3rd and sent him to the canvas on very, very wobbly legs.

Six rounds is a long time for a guy who weighed in at 321 pounds, though. And, to put it as kindly as possible – Conditioning issues limited Mailata’s attack in the last half of this one. Unofficially, I still think he did more than enough to earn the decision.

But, it’s certainly nice when you’re a house prospect under the promoter’s banner. Official judges had it 57-56 and 57-56 for Mireles, and 57-56 for Mailata. It’s a split decision win for Mireles, who remains undefeated for one more fight, at least.

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant earned the respect of one another, and their fellow fighters tonight

David Benavidez’s win over Caleb Plant tonight didn’t come easy, even if in the end it was clear who the better man was, as Benavidez pounded on plate for the last five rounds of the fight in particular, earning a win by unanimous decision.

But this was a fight where Benavidez (27-0, 23 KO) and Plant (22-2, 13 KO) probably both earned respect from a lot of boxing fans, and they certainly got some immediate reaction love from their fellow fighters on social media, who gave big props to Plant showing incredible heart in the back half of the fight, and obviously appreciated what Benavidez did to win the fight, too.

Pros including Ryan Garcia, Errol Spence Jr, Claressa Shields, George Kambosos Jr, and many more let their thoughts fly as soon as the fight was over, and here’s some of what they had to say.

Benavidez vs Plant reactions

David Benavidez had too much firepower for Caleb Plant, winning a clear decision.

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant settled their beef tonight, despite saying they wouldn’t, with Benavidez beating Plant clearly over 12 rounds in Las Vegas.

Benavidez stayed undefeated on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111, starting a bit slow but battering Plant from the seventh round on to take over the fight and give himself the deserved victory.

Benavidez (27-0, 23 KO) and Plant (22-2, 13 KO) put on a good tactical fight, if not exactly a true highlight reel war, but there was plenty of action in that second half, it’s just that all of it came from Benavidez, basically, with Plant displaying a ton of grit and heart.

It’s also a fight where referee Kenny Bayless, a veteran, is going to be heavily criticized for a performance that saw Plant blatantly holding far too often, and some odd timing on when Bayless would break up the action and when he wouldn’t.

But in the end, it was simply that Benavidez was the heavier puncher, stronger man, and better fighter on the night. The two talked a lot of heavy trash leading into the bout, and both swore the beef would not be squashed, but everyone showed great respect when all was said and done.

“I know I said we weren’t gonna end the beef, but we fought like warriors in the ring, and this guy’s a fuckin’ hell of a fighter,” Benavidez said, and Plant returned the compliment. “We gave the fans the best rivalry of the year, the best rivalry of the last five years.”

“I knew I had to take it step-by-step, round-by-round. He’s a tough fighter, he’s not gonna give you everything in the first couple rounds, you have to find,” he continued. “I hit him with a lot of hard shots. I would talk shit, but I like this guy now, so I don’t want to keep it going.”

Of the beef ending, Benavidez told Jim Gray, “We got into the ring, we settled it in the ring like men. He took my hard shots, I took his hard shots, we go home to our families.”

“I have a lot of respect for Canelo Alvarez, but he has to give me that shot now. That’s what everyone wants to see, let’s get in the ring in September,” Benavidez said. He added that he does not think Canelo is “avoiding” him, but that he’s got a lot of options.

“I take nothing from David. We haven’t been the best of friends, but we got in the ring and settled it like men, that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Plant said. “When the best get in there with the best, you roll the dice, somebody’s going to come up short. I’ve got in there and rumbled with the best in the world. I haven’t ducked nobody, and maybe we can have a rematch in the future.”

“David was the better man tonight and I take nothing from him. Congratulations to him and his family, he’s a hell of a fighter,” Plant added.

Benavidez vs Plant highlights

Jesus Ramos dominated, Chris Colbert got a very debatable decision, and Cody Crowley won a hard-fought battle on the Benavidez-Plant undercard.

The Benavidez vs Plant undercard is in the books, with Jesus Ramos, Chris Colbert, and Cody Crowley winning their pay-per-view fights, some in dominant fashion, others more questionable.

Benavidez vs Plant live coverage continues! Click here!

Here’s a recap of what we saw tonight from Las Vegas on Showtime pay-per-view.

Jesus Ramos TKO-7 Joey Spencer

Unfortunately for Spencer, this wound up the mismatch many feared it would be, as the 22-year-old from Michigan was dropped in the first round and, despite being very tough and very game, dominated until his corner rightly threw the towel in round seven.

Ramos (20-0, 16 KO) was too big, too skilled, too strong, and just too good for Spencer (16-1, 10 KO), whose steady diet of carefully-chosen opponents on PBC’s terrible FOX shows did him no favors in this fight, as he came up against a guy who was just too good and left Spencer looking helpless at times, despite the great effort he put in.

CompuBox saw Ramos landing 172 of 413 (42%) of his total punches and 147 of 317 (46%) power shots, a dominant display compared to Spencer landing 48 of 355 (14%) total punches and 47 of 242 (19%) power shots. Ramos landed 25 of 96 (26%) jabs, a strong connect rate, compared to Spencer going just 1 of 113 (1%). Ramos also landed 32 body shots to Spencer’s 13.

“I looked real good. I showed some angles. After the knockdown, I got carried away with my power a little bit, and it took some time for me to start working on what I practiced in the gym,” Ramos said.

Chris Colbert UD-10 Jose Valenzuela

This is going to be hotly debated. Colbert got three scores of 95-94 in his favor, overcoming an opening round knockdown to bounce back from his first career defeat about a year ago and get the win.

Unofficially, Bad Left Hook had this 95-94 Valenzuela on two separate cards. And lost in all this is going to be that it was a really good fight, a great clash of styles, and both guys had some great moments over the course of the fight.

Post-fight, Colbert (17-1, 6 KO) went over to share respect with Valenzuela (12-2, 8 KO), who has now lost two straight. An emotional Valenzuela just kept saying he won the fight, and ignored Colbert repeatedly offering to “run it back,” which he again said he would when speaking with Jim Gray.

Colbert also called Valenzuela a “sore loser,” among other things.

“He had his spurts. He caught me with shots, and I’d jab and jab and jab. He got that knockdown, but that don’t win a whole 10-round fight,” Colbert said.

“I landed the hard shots, I landed all the shots, I dropped him, I dominated,” Valenzuela said.

Truthfully, no, I don’t think Valenzuela dominated, and it would be hard to say that he did. But I do think he just edged this fight, and again, it was a good fight. I would not at all mind seeing a rematch between the two later this year.

Cody Crowley MD-12 Abel Ramos

A hard-nosed, hard-fought, extremely physical fight, fought pretty much exclusively in the “phone booth,” a term we probably need to replace since a large portion of our audience have no personal experience with phone booths.

Crowley (22-0, 9 KO) got the majority decision win on scores of 114-114, 115-113, 116-112. Bad Left Hook’s two unofficial cards were 115-113 and 116-112, both for Crowley. This was also a WBC eliminator, which means one of various things. Errol Spence Jr currently holds the title, there’s a mandatory defense order in for Spence to face Keith Thurman, and Crowley could maybe have to fight for an interim or something next. We’ll see, but he’s got a locked place in the room, at least.

Crowley and Ramos (27-6-2, 21 KO) both pretty much did as they said they would, with Crowley his normal volume-punching self, and Ramos meeting him pretty much dead even on that count, throwing 854 punches to Crowley’s 861 over the 12 rounds, averages of 71 and 72 per round, respectively.

Ramos hurt Crowley in the 11th and was initially ruled to have scored a knockdown moments later with Crowley’s glove appearing to touch the canvas, but the Nevada commission used their instant replay (or VAR, depending on how modern you are with this) and rightly corrected that call, because Crowley’s glove did not touch.

It’s a good win for Crowley, but he also did have some struggles with a guy who is now 1-3 in his last four fights and was coming off of a loss to Luke Santamaria. Styles make fights and all, but it’s doubtful anyone who already knew Crowley thinks more of him coming out of this than they did coming in, or that his stock really went up in the 147 lb division. Of course, anyone who knew him already thought he was a top 10 fighter in the division right now, so it’s not all gloom, and once again he was just all engine, he’s got a style and he fights the way he fights, and it’s been effective to date.

Lawrence Okolie beat David Light to retain his WBO cruiserweight title in Manchester, but it wasn’t pretty.

Lawrence Okolie did it again, both in terms of retaining his WBO cruiserweight title and doing so in a fashion that left the live crowd half-asleep and anyone watching on TV contemplating how much they needed to see.

Okolie beat David Light by unanimous decision in Manchester, with judges scoring the fight 116-112, 117-110, and 119-108. Bad Left Hook unofficially scored the fight 116-111 for Okolie.

Okolie (19-0, 14 KO) just wasn’t made to work all that hard in this one, and he didn’t try to force the issue much, either. Light (20-1, 12 KO) just didn’t have the tools to make Okolie uncomfortable very often, and even the rounds we scored his way weren’t exactly convincing for him, though neither were many of Okolie’s rounds.

If anyone did do any damage, it was Okolie in the latter stages of the fight, rocking Light back a bit on single right hands, but very little followed up, and that was the story of the bout overall. Single shots, nothing much after, a lot of Okolie holding and a fair amount of fouls from Light, too, notably some rabbit punching that didn’t seem to raise the ire of referee Bob Williams too much.

Williams did take a point from Okolie in round 11 for the holding.

Okolie, 30, may now look to defend against Richard Riakporhe, as both are under Boxxer deals, and Sky Sports may want something more exciting than this for their re-investment in Okolie, a questionable move given his track record with providing any entertainment value for viewers. They could also, in theory, look for a unification fight with WBC titlist Badou Jack, who will be seen as a vulnerable belt by the other titlists in the division.

Okolie vs Light highlights

Undercard highlights and results

• Frazer Clarke RTD-2 Bogdan Dinu: Dinu gave this one up after two rounds, claiming injury. Not to be mean-spirited, but Brandon Glanton was in the studio for ProBox TV and basically called what was going to happen here, and it wasn’t exactly a +3000 bet, either. Dinu (20-5, 16 KO) came in on short notice to replace Rydell Booker, who reportedly fell ill, ate a few shots, didn’t seem to like it much. Is what it is. Clarke is now 6-0 (5 KO) and clearly has his sights set on Fabio Wardley and the British heavyweight title.

• Michael Gomez Jr SD-10 Levi Giles: I thought Gomez wound up pretty solidly and clearly deserving this win, which gives him the English title (which is a step below British or Commonwealth, but kinda the last step below those, too) at 130 lbs. I had it 96-94 Gomez, which is close, but I also had a couple Giles (13-1, 3 KO) rounds I thought could have gone to Gomez (19-1, 5 KO) very reasonably, so I could have seen this as wide as 98-92. Anyway, the judges who mattered had it 96-95 Giles on one card, then 97-94 and 97-93 Gomez on the other two. Gomez has his dad’s showman spirit and heart, and a good engine, but he doesn’t fight much like his pops, either, doesn’t have that sort of punching power and is taller, but also wants to be a pressure guy, isn’t trying to stick a jab in at range or anything. I don’t know how much further Gomez can go, but if he gets the opportunity to go for a British or Commonwealth, I’m sure he’ll take it.

• Karriss Artingstall PTS-6 Linzi Buczynski: Referee had this 60-55, which gives Buczynski (4-2, 0 KO) a share of one round, but a sweep of 10-9s for Artingstall (3-0, 0 KO) otherwise. I really like Artingstall, she won bronze in a very competitive division at Tokyo 2020, and has adjusted her game nicely to the pro style. She’s aggressive, she’s got a determined and focused style, she throws punches with intent. The power hasn’t shown up in terms of getting stoppages, but it’s two-minute rounds on the women’s side, and it’s clear she has a little mustard on her shots. She’s a featherweight with a real future.

• Callum Simpson TKO-3 Celso Neves: A good win for Simpson, who goes to 11-0 (9 KO) and emphatically takes out a guy in Neves (9-4-2, 2 KO) who gave Felix Cash way more problems last December than realistically he should have. But because of that Simpson’s trouncing of him looks better. Simpson is big and tall at 168, has obvious upside and potentially a really high ceiling. But he’s 26 and still raw in some ways, too, will take another couple of years, probably, for him to be ready-ready, if he’s ever gonna get to that world level. But you can see why Boxxer like the Barnsley native a lot, there’s a lot to build on with him, and he comes to do damage and has real power.

Lawrence Okolie defends his WBO title against David Light today in Manchester! Join us for live updates!

Lawrence Okolie will defend his WBO cruiserweight title today in Manchester against David Light, headlining a Boxxer card that will air on ProBox TV in the U.S. and “internationally” (check your ProBox listings), and on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.

Live updates will come in this stream starting from 3 pm ET, with round-by-round for the main event:

Main Card (ProBox TV, 3:00 pm ET)

• Lawrence Okolie (18-0, 14 KO) vs David Light (20-0, 12 KO), cruiserweights, 12 rounds, for Okolie’s WBO title
• Frazer Clarke (5-0, 4 KO) vs Bogdan Dinu (20-4, 16 KO), heavyweights, 8 rounds
• Michael Gomez Jr (18-1, 5 KO) vs Levi Giles (13-0, 3 KO), junior lightweights, 10 rounds
• Karriss Artingstall (2-0, 0 KO) vs Linzi Buczynski (4-1, 0 KO), featherweights, 6 rounds
• Callum Simpson (10-0, 8 KO) vs Celso Neves (9-3-2, 2 KO), super middleweights, 8 rounds
• Rhys Edwards (13-0, 4 KO) vs Brian Phillips (12-3, 3 KO), junior lightweights, 6 rounds
• Harvey Lambert (1-0, 1 KO) vs Casey Brown (4-1, 0 KO), junior middleweights, 4 rounds
• Shakiel Thompson (9-0, 6 KO) vs Robert Talarek (27-17-3, 18 KO), super middleweights, 6 rounds

Jose Ramirez faces Richard Commey in tonight’s ESPN main event!

Jose Ramirez takes on Richard Commey in a 140 lb main event that is flying way under the radar tonight, but we’ll be here for those of you tuning in for this fight instead of Benavidez vs Plant!

John Hansen will be on the coverage this evening. Prelims start at 7 pm ET, and John will take over on coverage for the 10 pm ET main card start, which will be available on both ESPN and ESPN+.

Live updates, highlights, and results here, including round by round for the main event:

Prelims (ESPN+, 7:00 pm ET)

• Raymond Muratalla (16-0, 13 KO) vs Humberto Galindo (14-2, 11 KO), lightweights, 10 rounds
• Charlie Sheehy (5-0, 4 KO) vs Angel Rebollar (6-1, 3 KO), lightweights, 6 rounds
• Jessie James Guerrero (3-0-1, 3 KO) vs Eduardo Alvarez (0-2, 0 KO), junior flyweights, 4 rounds
• Ricardo Ruvalcaba (7-0-1, 6 KO) vs Marco Cardenas (9-7-1, 4 KO), junior welterweights, 6 rounds
• Subaru Murata (3-0, 3 KO) vs Jose Negrete (2-1, 2 KO), junior featherweights, 4 rounds

Main Card (ESPN and ESPN+, 10:00 pm ET)

• Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17 KO) vs Richard Commey (30-4-1, 27 KO), junior welterweights, 12 rounds
• Seniesa Estrada (23-0, 9 KO) vs Tina Rupprecht (12-0-1, 3 KO), minimumweights, 10 rounds, for Estrada’s WBA and Rupprecht’s WBC titles
• Antonio Mireles (6-0, 6 KO) vs Patrick Mailata (6-1, 3 KO), heavyweights, heavyweights, 6 rounds

David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant is LIVE TONIGHT! Join us for full coverage!

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will finally step into the ring tonight for a fight that may not settle their beef tonight, but at least they’ll finally be throwing hands instead of “verbal grenades” at one another.

The Showtime PPV, featuring three undercard bouts, starts at 9 pm ET. There will also be a pair of prelim fights airing for free on social media at 7 pm ET, and if you scroll down you should see the stream or some links to those.

Wil Esco will be on the round-by-round for all four fights starting from 9 pm ET, and we’ll also have live highlights and more in this stream:

Prelims (YouTube and Facebook, 7:00 pm ET)

• Kevin Gonzalez (25-0-1, 13 KO) vs Jose Sanmartin (34-6-1, 21 KO), junior featherweights, 10 rounds
• Orestes Velazquez (6-0, 6 KO) vs Marcelino Lopez (37-2-1, 22 KO), junior welterweights, 10 rounds

Main Card (PPV, 9:00 pm ET)

• David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KO) vs Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KO), super middleweights, 12 rounds, for Benavidez’s interim WBC title
• Jesus Ramos (19-0, 15 KO) vs Joey Spencer (16-0, 10 KO), junior middleweights, 10 rounds
• Chris Colbert (16-1, 6 KO) vs Jose Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KO), lightweights, 10 rounds
• Cody Crowley (21-0, 9 KO) vs Abel Ramos (27-5-2, 21 KO), welterweights, 12 rounds, WBC eliminator

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant both made weight, and tomorrow’s fight is officially, 100 percent set.

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant both made weight today in Las Vegas, and comfortably so at that, it would appear.

Plant weighed in at 167.2, and Benavidez was at 166.8, both easily under the fight’s 168 lb limit.

Benavidez (26-0, 23 KO) will be defending the interim WBC super middleweight title, and both he and Plant (22-1, 13 KO) have talked a huge game coming into this fight, which continued on Friday.

The two had an intense stare down, jawing to one another with Plant putting his hand to Benavidez’s chin at the end, before the two were fully separated.

“We were just exchanging pleasantries, telling each other how much we like each other,” Plant joked. “He’s been talking a lot about how much he’s going to whip my ass. We’re gonna see tomorrow.”

“I win in fashion, get my hand raised in fashion,” Plant predicted.

“He tried to put his finger in my face and I had to push his ass back, but he knows what’s up,” Benavidez said. “His man’s gonna have to pick him up off the fuckin’ ground when he’s leaking all that blood.”

“It speaks for itself. I’m on weight, I’ve been on weight all week, and I’m ready to take this motherfucker’s head off,” he added.

Asked if the beef ends tomorrow, Benavidez replied, “Fuck no.”

Weights and photos

• (PPV)
• Jesus Ramos 153.2 vs Joey Spencer 153.2 (PPV)
• Chris Colbert 134.6 vs Jose Valenzuela 134 (PPV)
• Cody Crowley 145.2 vs Abel Ramos 146 (PPV)
• Kevin Gonzalez 121.4 vs Jose Sanmartin 122.4 (Prelims)
• Orestes Velazquez vs Marcelino Lopez 141.8 (Prelims)

Benavidez vs Plant full weigh-in video

Kenshiro Teraji could face Gerardo Zapata or Anthony Olascuaga

Japanese boxing had it too good for too long, apparently. Fresh on the heels of Naoya Inoue vs Stephen Fulton getting pushed back to summer, Kenshiro Teraji’s April 8th three-belt light flyweight unification against Jonathan Gonzalez is off after “Bomba” developed pneumonia.

Kiko Martinez vs Reiya Abe and Takuma Inoue vs Liborio Solis remain on track for that evening.

The hunt is on for a replacement foe. Teraji’s (20-1, 12 KO) team is reportedly negotiating with WBA no. 13 contender Gerardo Zapata and WBO no. 2 flyweight Anthony Olascuaga, the latter of whom is already in Japan.

Teraji was looking to build off a phenomenal 2022 that saw him brutally avenge his upset loss to Masamichi Yabuki and subsequently batter Hiroto Kyoguchi to add the WBA title to his collection. As Jake Donovan points out elsewhere, rescheduling could be tricky, as Hekkie Budler already stepped aside to let the Gonzalez (27-3-1, 14 KO) fight proceed and WBA interim champ Daniel Matellon is likewise waiting in the wings.

Wishing Gonzalez a speedy recovery and this situation a tidy resolution.

Jose Benavidez Sr says Caleb Plant has said and done too much for them to ever shakes hands.

After the festivities of yesterday’s final press conference for this weekend’s Showtime PPV, headlined by David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant, Benavidez’s father Jose Sr spoke to Fight Hub TV about how much this fight means to them and why their personal beef with Plant has gone too far to even settle it with this fight. Here’s some of what he had to say.

Benavidez Sr fans who have commented that David might have overtrained for this fight

“You know, that’s the thing that I always heard in life — overtrain, overtrain. How the hell are you going to get somewhere? Hard work, man. You know the secret to success is hard work.

“I would say is we’re working super hard and then he’s gonna go party or not sleep, you can overwork like that. But if you’re focused and you’re fresh — at the end of the day I can say a lot of things. We’ll see it on Saturday if he’s overworked, because he worked super hard for this fight. I’ll tell you that he’s never worked this hard.

“I hope Caleb trained hard also because if not he’s gonna be in big trouble.”

On the possibility of Benavidez losing focus on the game plan and just going after Plant once he lands the first good punch

“We worked on a lot of things, but I’ll be realistic. We gotta go round by round and see how we do because at the end of the day we can have a plan but if you have a fighter that’s not committing and is moving around and is not cooperating, guess what, we’re gonna have to go and adjust to other things.

“So we’re just gonna go and see the first round and feel him out and get loose and from there on there’s no stop.”

On how satisfying a win over Plant would be

“It would be the biggest fight of our careers, I believe. We’ve been trying to get this fight for almost five years. This guy is always talking shit on me, he’s been bullying David for years and years about saying that he’s fat, and try to put him down, and doing all these things. This would be the biggest satisfaction of all time for me, to knock this guy out or make him quit on the stool. That will be a great satisfaction.

“All these other fighters that we fight, a lot of respect, we become friends. But this guy, there’s no way. This guy is a bad person. He’s trying to act nice, but at the end of the day we’re here to work and keep progressing and make history.”

On the chance of them shaking hands and settling things with Plant once the fight is over

“I would never go shake this guy’s hand, never. Never. Never. Never, man. To be honest with you, I will do it with anybody else but this guy has made so much damage to my family and talked so much shit about my family.

“And I’ll tell you right now, at one point I went up there and I begged him as the man I am, I told him ‘please man, couldy ou just take the fuckin’ drugs out of all this? Say you’re gonna knock him out, you can do whatever the fuck you want.’ He looked in my eyes and he said ‘You know what Mr. Benavidez, I’m gonna stop that.’ And I thanked him so much, because that really hurt me, man.

“He has damaged my family so much, man. And then the next day he started doing the same shit. So I would never, I would never shake his hand.”

David Benavidez and Caleb Plant weigh in today ahead of Saturday’s fight!

The wait is almost over! David Benavidez and Caleb Plant will hit the scales today in Las Vegas, the final step before tomorrow’s Showtime PPV main event.

The weigh-in will stream live at 4 pm ET today, and we’ll have live coverage for the full show tomorrow, March 25, with the PPV beginning at 9 pm ET.

If you can’t watch, we’ll have updates and weigh-in results LIVE as they happen in this stream:

Here’s the full lineup for tomorrow’s show:

Full card lineup

PPV (9 pm ET):

• David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KO) vs Caleb Plant (22-1, 13 KO), super middleweights, 12 rounds, for Benavidez’s interim WBC title
• Jesus Ramos (19-0, 15 KO) vs Joey Spencer (16-0, 10 KO), junior middleweights, 10 rounds
• Chris Colbert (16-1, 6 KO) vs Jose Valenzuela (12-1, 8 KO), lightweights, 10 rounds
• Cody Crowley (21-0, 9 KO) vs Abel Ramos (27-5-2, 21 KO), welterweights, 12 rounds, WBC eliminator

Prelims (7 pm ET):

• Kevin Gonzalez (25-0-1, 13 KO) vs Jose Sanmartin (34-6-1, 21 KO), junior featherweights, 10 rounds
• Orestes Velazquez (6-0, 6 KO) vs Marcelino Lopez (37-2-1, 22 KO), junior welterweights, 10 rounds

Christian Mbilli didn’t have it easy, but he clearly beat Carlos Gongora to establish himself as a contender at 168

Christian Mbilli stayed unbeaten, but he had to really earn in a tough fight tonight with Carlos Gongora in Montreal.

Mbilli was hurt in the fight, but ultimately did more damage and out-worked his Ecuadorian opponent, securing cards of 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91 for the unanimous decision win. Bad Left Hook’s unofficial card was 97-93 for Mbilli.

Gongora (21-2, 16 KO) still looks like a relevant player in the 168 lb division, which isn’t too deep with quality operators at the moment, admittedly, and Mbilli’s performance tonight solidifies him as a serious contender. Canelo Alvarez, of course, rules the roost at 168 as undisputed champ, and we have the big Benavidez vs Plant fight on Saturday night, too, but after those guys and David Morrell Jr, Mbilli (24-0, 20 KO) has as good a case to be ranked in the top five as anyone right now.

The 27-year-old Mbilli, from Cameroon originally, based in France, and a familiar fighter in Quebec, ate a good amount of counter left uppercuts from Gongora in the early going, but by the fourth round looked to be in real control, mixing a consistently effective body attack with some clever shots up top, something that was a little tougher for him in the first two rounds.

Gongora’s funky, awkward nature started to wilt a bit in those middle rounds, but he was still effective in spots himself, and had Mbilli hurt badly in round eight, before Mbilli steadied himself and roared back, making for a Round of the Year candidate.

That momentum Mbilli had to close round eight carried over into the ninth and 10th, though, and he put the cherry on top of a really good performance. If the fight had been scheduled for 12, you get the feeling referee Steve St Germain may have stepped in late in round 10, as Gongora was eating a lot of hard shots and looking pretty unsteady.

Canelo presents a sort of “good problem” being undisputed champ, as that creates a logjam for top-level fights in its own way, particularly if he beats John Ryder in May as expected, then fights Dmitry Bivol again in September, which seems to be the plan right now. So Mbilli may find it hard to follow this fight with something as good, honestly, but he’s in that mix at 168 now for sure.

Mbilli vs Gongora highlights

(ESPN Ringside will hopefully have some better highlights up soon.)

Undercard results

• Simon Kean TKO-7 Eric Molina: Couple of big heavyweights. Neither guy is exactly world level or anything, and the fight — well, it wasn’t particularly good, but I’ve seen worse heavyweight fights. I’ve seen worse heavyweight fights for world titles. This was probably (and hopefully) it for the 40-year-old Molina (29-9, 21 KO), who has looked bad in four recent stoppage losses dating back to 2019, and hasn’t really been competitive against a credible opponent since he fought Dominic Breazeale in 2017. I really did not like watching Molina these last few years, but I’m choosing to remember whenhe really was a very solid, very game fringe contender type who wasn’t afraid to fight anyone. He fought Anthony Joshua, he fought Deontay Wilder, and he got in the ring with plenty more tough guys, and he did all of that despite being knocked out in 1:45 in his debut back in 2007. Kean (23-1, 22 KO) is 34 and is what he is, a regional favorite who will move some tickets for cards, and honestly he’s usually more fun to watch than this. Both guys fought a little tentative, but they would explode for big punches now and then, too.

• Steve Claggett TKO-7 Rafael Guzman: Claggett was really sharp here. Now, listen, I respect the local commentary being excited about a Canadian guy they like, and I thought, again, Claggett was very sharp. But calling for him to get a world title fight off the back of beating a 27-year-old dude with a really empty record, who was coming off of a draw in Tijuana, is maybe a bit bold. But Claggett (34-7-2, 24 KO) really is a warrior and a solid fighter, and this is five straight wins for him, all by stoppage, and he’s moving toward making his case, at least. Guzman (26-3-2, 16 KO) gave the effort, but he couldn’t land much clean on Claggett, who landed clean enough to get Guzman’s corner to stop it after the seventh round.
• Luis Santana TKO-3 Francisco Arturo Ramirez: Ramirez was kinda in this and then he definitely wasn’t. By the end of the second round his whole vibe had shifted, and Santana (9-0, 3 KO) put him away about midway into the third round, with Ramirez’s (11-5, 6 KO) stopping the fight after a knockdown. Some good work from Santana, a 25-year-old lightweight.

• Leila Beaudoin UD-6 Laura Avendano: Beaudoin goes to 9-0-1 (1 KO) as she tries to keep moving up the ladder at 130. Avendano (6-1, 2 KO) wasn’t as good as her record might make her seem, and she also missed weight by a ton, but the fight went on anyway and it made no difference.
• Wilkens Mathieu UD-4 Jose Gonzalez: Look, this wasn’t any fun to watch, as it was 18-year-old prospect Mathieu “going rounds” on purpose in his second pro bout, improving to 2-0 (1 KO), but it’s work that could be valuable. The 36-year-old Gonzalez (1-3-1, 0 KO) hung in there and gave the odd shot back, too, this is the sort of thing that’s good for young fighters to do in a live fight setting, not just in the gym. So no, not exciting, but not without purpose. Mathieu is fighting at 165 lb catchweights early; right now he doesn’t look like he has the physique for 168, but there’s no reason to get all the way down to 160 immediately, either, they’ll probably work him down to that when fights get more serious over the next few years.
• Jhon Orobio TKO-1 Alejandro Medina: Easy work for Orobio, a 19-year-old Colombian making his debut. He started doing damage as the first minute of the fight was winding down, and it was stopped at 95 seconds. Medina (2-2, 2 KO) didn’t go down, but he was just getting knocked around the ring and it wasn’t going to get any more competitive.

• Vanessa Lepage Joanisse UD-4 Princess Hairston: These two weighed in right around 185, which means this is a fight without a division. You can call it heavyweight or light heavyweight, whatever, but those weights barely actually exist in women’s boxing. But here’s the good news: Both of these fighters came to fight and gave a good effort. It wasn’t dull and that’s all you can really ask. Joanisse (4-1, 1 KO) hadn’t fought since a 2017 loss to Alejandra Jimenez, reportedly she got up to about 315 lbs, and this was a huge thing for her to drop 140 lbs and come back to the sport. She started just a bit slow, but pretty well dominated Hairston (2-2, 2 KO) after that.