Caleb Plant was an interested observer Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, soaking in the hard-fought fight between former rival David Benavidez and David Morrell.

Benavidez scored a unanimous decision via scores of 115-111, 115-111, and 118-108, outlanding the Cuban contender Morrell 224 to 165 in the light heavyweight fight.

Plant fought Benavidez in March 2023 and lost a competitive unanimous decision at super middleweight via scores of 113-115, 112-116, and 111-117. Benavidez outlanded Plant 210 to 91 and started pulling away in the second half of the fight, much like he did against Morrell.

“I thought Benavidez won convincingly,” Plant told the media. “I liked [the performance]. Benavidez did really well. But Morrell put up a hell of a fight and started rallying later. It's experience that they are both going to be able to take into other big fights, and experience is priceless.

“It's hard to keep Benavidez off of you. He's a big old boy. Beyond that, he's got a lot of attributes. He's fast, mean spirited, and puts his hands together. He's a hard guy to beat. Being mean spirited will take you a long way in boxing.”

Benavidez is now in line to face the winner of the February 22 rematch between undisputed light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

“I'm not sure if [Benavidez] would [beat the winner of Beterbiev-Bivol], but you can't put it past him,” said Plant, The Ring’s No. 4 ranked 168-pound contender.

As for what’s next for the former super middleweight title holder Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), he’s planning for a summertime return and floated May, June, and July as likely dates. He also communicated the desire to face Edgar Berlanga, Jermall Charlo, or Jaime Munguia.

Plant last fought in September and scored a ninth-round technical knockout win against Trevor McCumby.