Sampson Lewkowciz remembers the time when Caleb Plant, barely some 10 fights into his professional career, kept imploring him to make a fight between him and David Benavidez.

But Lewkowciz, the longtime promoter of super middleweight contender Benavidez, repeatedly told Plant that such a fight was premature; Lewkowciz saw the matchup as tent-pole material down the line, and he felt that “marinating” the contest was the right move.

Fast forward several years and it appears that Plant, a Las Vegas resident from Nashville, will finally get his wish.

Plant and Benavidez recently both announced on their respective social media accounts that they had struck a deal to face each other in the early part of 2023.

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

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

The announcement came as a breath of fresh air for boxing fans as it followed disappointing news that a welterweight undisputed fight between Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr. would not be happening this year. Both Plant and Benavidez fight under the Premier Boxing Champions banner.
Lewkowciz said the fight reached a point where it was no longer simply “fantasy.”

“Listen, he’s a great boxer,” Lewkowciz said of Plant in an interview with ESNews. “He wanted that fight when he had 11, 10 fights. I remember he said, ‘Sampson [I want that fight].’ I said ‘No, it’s not the time.’ And then, you know — I respect all fighters. I would never say anything negative about anyone. Sometimes people fantasize. Boxers fantasize. It was fantasy when he had 10 or 11 fights, he wanted to fight Benavidez. I told him it’s not the time at this moment. Now is the time.”

“Both guys wanted the fight,” Lewkowciz added. “It will be really a personal fight … I don’t know about hate. They don’t like [each other].”

Plant is coming off of a brutal one-punch knockout of Anthony Dirrell last month at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was the first time he fought since his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez last November.

Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs) last fought in May, a dominant third-round stoppage of veteran David Lemieux.