David Benavidez does not understand why Caleb Plant would not commit to fighting him later this year.

Earlier this month, Benavidez’s father generated some commotion when he announced that he reached out to Plant’s team about fighting his son in the fall. A few days later, Benavidez Sr. said that Plant had “declined” the proposal. As BoxingScene.com’s Jake Donovan previously reported, a Benavidez-Plant fight was never seriously in the cards, as both fighters had separate bouts lined up.

Benavidez himself is slated to take on veteran middleweight contender David Lemieux at Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona, Benavidez’s backyard. The Las Vegas-based Plant had already been in talks to face longtime 168-pound contender Anthony Dirrell.

Benavidez, 25, seemed to suggest in a recent interview that all his team wanted was a “verbal agreement” from Plant.

“There could’ve been a verbal agreement,” Benavidez told Fight Stars TV. I have my [current] fight signed already with David Lemieux. But if he was it and I’m with it, we can have a verbal agreement to have the fight happen after our fights. That’s no problem. We could’ve made that fight happen in September or December.

“If he doesn’t want to fight and he’s saying all that s---, he’s basically saying he doesn’t want to fight.”

Plant, 29, had responded to a hypothetical match-up between him and Benavidez with the words, “Fatboy can’t f--- with me," which seemed to trigger Benavidez Sr.'s explicit call for a fight.

Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) added that the WBC sanctioning body “would’ve loved” to make that fight an eliminator, which, in his view, gives Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) even less of an excuse

“The WBC would’ve loved to have made the fight a WBC interim title [bout], but why is that fight not made?” Benavidez said. “It’s not made because Caleb Plant didn’t want to fight. You think the WBC wouldn’t have loved to have made that fight? That would be a great situation for the WBC. Now he’s going out there – I heard he’s in talks with Anthony Dirrell? He just talks all that sh-t for no reason. But deep down inside I know he’s scared.”

While both fighters may not meet in the ring anytime soon (i.e. this year), a fight should be relatively easy to consummate, as they fight under the Premier Boxing Champions banner. According to Benavidez, they even have the same point person.

“We go through the same people,” Benavidez said. “We go through Luis DeCubas [Jr.]. He handles me and he handles Caleb Plant. So it’s not that hard to make the fight happen. And it’s not only me. It’s with all these guys.”

Benavidez simply wants Plant to put up – or shut up.

"This fat boy would beat his ass," Benavidez said. "He can say whatever he wants. That’s the thing about Caleb Plant. He runs his goddamn mouth all day. And he does little effort to make these fights happen.

"I’ll put his ass in the hospital," he added.