Caleb Plant (23-2, 14 KOs) kept his career alive with a ninth-round TKO win over Trevor McCumby (28-1, 21 KOs) to claim the WBA super middleweight title in his fight undercard on Saturday night at theT. – Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Former IBF 168-lb champion Plant was coming off an 18-month layoff, and looked nothing like his old self at first, getting injured in rounds one, two and four. Plant was clearly bothered by the power, speed and explosiveness from McCumby early on.
McCumby knocked Plant down with a right hand to the body in the fourth round. The plant was backwards at the moment and not in a good position to take the punch to the body.
Later in the fourth, Plant stepped up, forcing an inside battle against McCumby by pressing him to the ropes and landing accurate shots. In a huge mistake, McCumby allowed Plant to hold him there for long stretches.
In the middle of the rounds, McCumby’s corner didn’t order him to stay off the ropes until the seventh round, but by then, he had already taken a lot of punishment to the head. He felt that Plant had taken the fight from him because of the time he had spent against the ropes.
In rounds eight and nine, Plant overwhelmed a tired and battered McCumby when he had him against the ropes and dominated him in the center of the ring.
When Plant hit the clapper to signal there were 10 seconds left in the ninth, he unleashed a flurry of shots with many of them catching McCumby in the head. The referee, Allen Huggins, then stopped with one second left in the ninth to stop the fight.
Overall, it was an OK performance from Plant, but not a great effort that suggests he would beat the top contenders in the 168 lb division. Based on this performance, Plant does not deserve a rematch against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
Before tonight’s fight, Plant discussed the WBA elevating him from interim champion to regular champion if David Morrell does not return to 168. Plant said that if he is elevated to regular champion, Canelo would to fight It is not likely to happen.
Plant didn’t look good enough to deserve a rematch against Canelo, and McCumby wasn’t a big name. If Plant wants a rematch against Canelo, he needs to beat these types of fighters:
- David Morrell
- Christian Mbilli
- Osley’s English
- Diego Pacheco
- David Benavidez
