RESULTS: DAVID BENAVIDEZ EARNS NOD OVER BITTER RIVAL CALEB PLANT; CHRIS COLBERT EARNS QUESTIONABLE DECISION OVER JOSE VALENZUELA

By: Jay Calderon‍

On Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, and live on Showtime pay-per-view, David Benavidez won the biggest fight of his career, earning a unanimous decision over bitter rival Caleb Plant.

Plant started the contest well, feinting and jabbing well enough to keep Bwnavidez' hands at bay for most of the first two rounds. While Plant wasn't landing bombs, he was the busier man and was making it more a fight in his preferred style. Benavidez simply couldn't get going as Plant looked to hold and tie up on the inside.

As we moved into the middle frames, Benavidez was landing a bit more and Plant seemed to be slowing down. Again, nothing dramatic was landing, but Benavidez was landing with more regularity.

A straight left for Benavidez landed well as Plant failed to move away to start the sixth frame. Plant was looking to move a bit more in the round, but started jabbing a bit halfway through. Plant landed a solid combination, before making Benavidez miss wide with two big shots. While he wasn't throwing enough, Benavidez was moving in more and closing the distance. Towards the end of the round, Benavidez landed three shots before Plant was forced to hold. Plant was finally warned for holding.

Plant started the seventh well with a flurry, but some single shots of Benavidez were starting to find a home. The jab to the body for Benavidez was a shot in particular that was landing. With Plant against the ropes, Benavidez landed two left hooks that seemed to bother Caleb momentarily. To his credit, Plant stepped in with a left hand inside and a right hand moments later.

In the first minute of the eighth, Plant was throwing and landing well as Benavidez looked to land the power punches. At about halfway through the round, Benavidez stunned Plant and was looking to finish the job. However, absurdly, the referee elected to pause the action and get Plant's cut checked mid-action. Benavidez finished the round well with some punishing blows.

To start the ninth, Plant landed a low blow that called a halt to the action. The referee gave him a stern warning for the shot. Action resumed, and we get back to Plant looking to move and box while Benavidez stalked. A combination by Plant did well to score, but a glancing left hook by Benavidez got in as well. Benavidez landed well with two more left hooks, landing with much more authority than Plant's left a few seconds earlier.

In the tenth, Plant started well by stepping in, but Benavidez soon landed some hurtful left hand, followed by a couple of right uppercuts that seemed to really trouble Plant, who again was forced to hold. Benavidez was the much stronger of the two, pushing Plant back and creating enough space to work more combination shots. Near the end of the round, Benavidez seemed to really trouble Plant with a blow to the body.

In the eleventh, Plant, warned in his corner that they may stop the fight, looked to come out strong. And he landed well in the first 30 seconds. However, Benavidez stepped back and started working the left hand with more success. The jab of Plant was keeping Benavidez as bay midway through, but David landed a thunderous left hook about a minute later that stunned Caleb. Plant was holding and not doing much else, unable to fight fire with fire, but showing tremendous guts in the process.

Plant said he was good in the corner, and said he wanted to finish the fight. However, he looked gassed and was unsure of what round was coming up. The pair touched gloves to start the frame, surprisingly. Plant came out strong once more to start the frame, landing a few left hands as Benavidez shelled up. However, Benavidez took them well and returned fire with more impressive blows, including a stiff jab and a couple of quick right hands. A quick right cross by Benavidez also scored on the inside. Plant landed well with a body blow, but Benavidez came back with two of his own with less than a minute left in the fight. Shoe-shine flurry for Plant does little, but it buys him some time. In the final seconds, the pair trade big bombs as the bell rings.

The fighters and their teams embraced in respect after the contest was finished.

In the end, the scores were for Benavidez, 117-111, 116-112 and 115-113. JOB had it 116-113 in favor of Benavidez.

In the co-featured bout of the evening, undefeated Jesus Ramos remained perfect as a pro, stopping Joey Spencer in the seventh, handing the latter his first professional loss.

Ramos was mostly in control from the beginning to the end, landing the harder, more telling shots. In the opening round, Ramos dropped Spencer with a chippy left hand, but failed to finish his man off.
Ramos, who looked much bigger than Spencer on the night, used angles and combinations to continuously push the head back of his foe. Spencer seemed to have no answers for the onslaught, and failed to make adjusments.

Spencer showed toughness, never truly on the verge of being stopped by force. However, he wasn't doing much damage at all. Even when Spencer landed, Ramos took it well and landed a receipt that caught more of your attention.

In the seventh frame, Spencer was the one coming forward at first. However, the powerful flurries of Ramos ultimately forced the trainer (and father) of Spencer to throw in the proverbial towel, calling a halt to the action. Time of the stoppage was 1:25 in the seventh.

OTHER RESULTS:
Chris Colbert def. Jose Valenzuela, 10UD (Lightweight)
Cody Crowley def. Abel Ramos, 12MD (Welterweight)

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