Opinions and Observations: Benavidez-Plant

The idea that David Benavidez might be one of boxing's boogeymen has percolated throughout the sport over the last few years. In his development fights and title defenses (when he was a champion), he had plowed through lesser opposition mostly with ease. With wrecking balls in both hands, an active motor and a high Ring IQ, Benavidez had already demonstrated that he possessed high-level talent; but despite his manifold offensive gifts, he still hadn't beaten elite opposition.

There were three reasons for his lack of top opponents: For one, he wasn't fighting in a strong division until recently. There just weren't too many legitimate top guys to fight. A second factor was of his own doing. Benavidez had lost two titles outside of the ring (failing a drug test and missing weight). As a result, he didn't have the same bargaining position. Without a belt, no one was forced to fight him or go through him to unify the titles. And finally, let's face it, no elite fighter had been in a rush to face him for any reason, title or not. Opponents and their teams have eyes. And while watching Benavidez beat up another opponent, potential challengers weren't licking their lips and proclaiming, "This is the guy that I want!" 

However, former champion Caleb Plant accepted the Benavidez challenge and for that he deserves credit. He could have gone in any number of directions for another title shot, but instead he chose the most perilous option.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Hafey

In analyzing the matchup, Plant had a path to victory. Featuring superior foot speed, fast hands, a sneaky left hook and an ability to land punches while on the move, Plant presented challenges for the more flat-footed Benavidez. In addition, Plant was going to fight on his own terms. He wouldn't get sucked into a war or feel the need to play to the crowd, vital attributes in potentially beating Benavidez. 

Plant started Saturday's fight brightly. With his jab, left hook and purposeful movement, he flummoxed Benavidez in the early rounds and controlled the pace of the fight. That Benavidez couldn't even reach more than 40 punches a round until the sixth demonstrates how successful Plant was in the first half of the match. 

But as early as the third round, Plant started to lose command of what was working for him. Instead of circling and using purposeful lateral movement to land his punches, he too often went into retreat or decided to hold. And as Benavidez started to get cooking with power punches, Plant evaded or held even more. It was a negative style, which is fine, but Plant also wasn't getting enough work done. 

In an interesting development, Benavidez gained a foothold in the fight with his left hook. Now, this was a bold play in that Plant's best punch is his left hook. Remember the old boxing adage, "Never hook with a hooker." Well, Benavidez was willing to turn that axiom on its head and expose himself to Plant's power in order to land his. It was a decision that smacked of machismo, and it worked for him. When they traded their best hooks, Benavidez's shots were far more substantial. Benavidez still wasn't landing with regularity in the third and fourth rounds, but his single left hooks were damaging. 

The fight started to swing in Benavidez's direction for good in the middle rounds. What I found most exhilarating was how Benavidez would dominate a stretch of the fight with one punch and then the next round he would get the best of Plant with another weapon in his arsenal. It seemed as if in each successive round he dug into his bag of tricks and found something else that worked. He went from the left hook to the head, to the overhand right, to the left hook to the body, to the right uppercut, to opening up with combinations. Despite Plant's elusiveness, Benavidez was able to get through with all sorts of nastiness. 

As Benavidez had more and more success in the fight, it became clear that referee Kenny Bayless wasn't going to give David a fair shake. Despite Plant's incessant holding, it was Benavidez who was often warned for fouling. In addition, Bayless wouldn't let Benavidez work with a free hand in the clinch. There were literally a dozen times where I believe that Bayless broke up the action when the fight could have continued. These instances often stopped Benavidez's momentum and temporarily saved Plant from taking more damage. 

And as bad as all that was, Bayless' most egregious moment was when he stopped the action when Plant was hurt to take him to the ringside doctor for a cut that was in an unthreatening area. Overall, it was a terrible display from Bayless, who once was one of the best referees in the sport. 

Despite the difficulties that Benavidez had with Bayless, he hurt Plant seemingly at will in the latter half of the fight. In the eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh, I thought that Plant was close to being stopped. And perhaps his corner or Bayless could have called off the fight, but to Plant's credit he was able to survive.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Hafey

Ultimately, Benavidez won via an impressive unanimous decision; I don't think that he should be criticized for not getting the stoppage. He was fighting two guys in the ring, and with a different official I think that he would have been more than capable of scoring the KO. 

Plant just didn't have the punching power to keep Benavidez honest. Although he made Benavidez uncomfortable and forced him to think his way through the fight, Plant couldn't stop Benavidez from marching forward. Plant has shown that he can be a capable operator in the ring, but when he faces real power, he's at a significant disadvantage.  

As for Benavidez, he has won me over during the last few years. Initially, I wasn't a huge fan of his; I felt that he didn't take the sport seriously enough. But since he lost his last title, I have been impressed with how he has rededicated himself to boxing. He hasn't had the same problems with making weight. His conditioning is now much better. And this has enabled him to become even more imposing in the ring. 

If Benavidez can stay on the straight-and-narrow he will have many more triumphs ahead of him. He's now hitting his peak and would give any fighter trouble in his surrounding weight classes. His offensive arsenal is frightening and his ring intelligence is an underrated part of his game.  Let's hope he understands how close he is to the precipice of greatness. 

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. 

He's a contributing writer for Ring Magazine, a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com

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Opinions and Observations: Ramirez-Taylor

The signature moment of Saturday's undisputed junior welterweight clash between Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor occurred in the seventh round. During a clinch, Ramirez turned his head away from Taylor and signaled toward referee Kenny Bayless to step in and separate them. With Ramirez looking away, Taylor maneuvered his body, pushing Ramirez off him. Taylor then unfurled a hellacious left uppercut that sent Ramirez to the canvas. Ramirez beat the count, but he was badly hurt. Although Taylor had already knocked Ramirez down in the sixth from a short counter left hand, it was the knockdown in the seventh that significantly changed the tenor of the fight. 

That seventh-round knockdown stopped whatever momentum Ramirez had earlier in the match. Even after getting dropped in the sixth, Ramirez pressed forward and had good moments toward the end of the round. But after the second knockdown, Ramirez needed to marshal all of his forces just to survive. It wasn't until later in the ninth round when Ramirez was finally able to go on the offensive again.

Consider the ramifications of that second knockdown: The seventh round was a clear 10-8 round for Taylor. Ramirez didn't attempt much offense in the eighth; that was an easy 10-9 round for Taylor. Those three points made the difference on the judges' 114-112 scorecards for Taylor.  

Taylor (center) celebrating his knockdown
Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Now it's not just as simple as that. Taylor certainly coasted during the final third of the fight, believing that his victory was already secure. It's possible that if Taylor and his team thought that the fight was closer, he would have worked harder during the last three rounds.

If we're being honest, how Taylor finished the fight was problematic. It speaks to the lack of experience in his corner and perhaps some overconfidence. I'm sure that the 114-112 scores reflected a fight that was closer than his team believed (I had it for Taylor 115-111), but we've all seen atrocious scorecards in Vegas over the years. Why would Team Taylor assume that the fight was done and dusted by the tenth round? That's too early in a competitive fight to be taking a victory lap. I'm not downplaying the magnitude of Taylor's win or the quality of his performance in the first nine rounds, but overall, one has to be concerned with his team's naivete and/or arrogance. 

Josh Taylor has cleaned out a talented group of fighters at 140, with wins over Postol, Baranchyk, Prograis and now Ramirez. He clearly is among the best fighters in the sport. And yet I can't help thinking that he has another level to ascend to if he properly applies himself. What's been missing in his victories has been dominance. Some of that can be attributed to the level of his opposition. But, if you watch his fights closely, Taylor himself deserves some blame for this lack of separation from his opponents. 

Not stopping a capable champion like Ramirez isn't a crime, but Taylor certainly could have done more in the fight's final third to leave no questions unanswered. Taylor's fight against Prograis followed a similar pattern, where Prograis, although outgunned in the trenches, found success late in the fight from the outside. Credit to Prograis for winning those late rounds, but Taylor didn't close like he could have. It wasn't enough for Prograis to win the fight; however, those scorecards sure got tight by the end of it. 

In Taylor's last three fights against notable opponents (Ramirez, Prograis and Baranchyk), the majority of the judges for each bout didn't have him winning more than seven rounds. That seems like a small margin of error to me. Fight enough of those type of bouts and you are bound to lose one of them. Again, I'm not claiming that his opponents have been incapable; they certainly were fine boxers, but in each of these bouts Taylor made decisions that directly made the fights closer than they needed to be. 

Taylor and Ramirez working at close range
Photo courtesy of Mikey Williams/Top Rank

Let's end with some positives. Taylor's comprehensive skillset was enough to beat Ramirez and referee Kenny Bayless, who seemed determined not to let Taylor get any work done at close range. With clever boxing moves, Taylor created both knockdowns. His quick counter in the sixth was an excellent example of turning defense into offense. His ability to work in the clinch before Bayless could intrude ultimately led to his victory. Taylor was faster, he had more punch variety, his legs looked excellent and he had more ways of winning the fight.

Ramirez also had some solid passages in the fight. His body shots clearly bothered Taylor. And Ramirez landed enough clean power shots, whether rights to the body or head, or left hooks to the body, where Taylor never seemed fully comfortable in the fight. Even during Ramirez's worst moments in the fight, in the seventh and eighth rounds, Taylor didn't press for the knockout; Ramirez's power punching was enough to keep Taylor honest. 

Taylor deserves all the praise for his victory. Becoming an undisputed champion is a rarity in boxing, and a wonderful achievement. I've been a fan of his in the ring for many years. I picked him before the tournament started to win the World Boxing Super Series and I thought he would have a little too much for Ramirez. 

And as exciting and special as Taylor has been, once he stops making unforced errors, there is a possibility that he could arrive at an even higher level, one in which opponents are intimidated before they enter the ring, where they can't see clear paths to victory. For now, Taylor is elite, but he leaves enough food on the table to give opponents hope. At this point, if a guy can stick around, he will have an opportunity. 

Let's hope that Taylor and his team realize that their work isn't done yet. Taylor has the skillset to become a generational-type fighter, but if we are being honest there's a self-sabotaging streak of his that needs to be eradicated. 

Boxing is hard enough as it is without providing extra opportunities or motivation for opponents. When Taylor finally gets to that next level, you will see more corner stoppages, mentally defeated fighters sitting on their stools, and foes uneager to get up after a knockdown. Taylor's not there yet. For now, his opponents all believe that they will eventually get their chance. Taylor's final test as a professional will be if he can remove hope.   

Adam Abramowitz is the founder and head writer of saturdaynightboxing.com. He's a member of Ring Magazine's Ring Ratings Panel and a Board Member for the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board. 

Email: saturdaynightboxing@hotmail.com.

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