Caleb Plant excludes Caleb Truax, eyes Canelo fights next

Caleb Plant retains its IBF super-middleweight title with an exclusive victory over former titleist Caleb Truax, who keeps Plant’s path to a giant battle with Canelo Alvarez clear for the first time later this year.

Plant won 120-108 across the board. Bad Left Hook also recorded the battle 120-108 on some separate unofficial maps.

The 28-year-old Plant (21-0, 12 KO) had no real problems with the 37-year-old Truax (31-5-2, 19 KO), and the veteran was greatly overwhelmed with his speed, especially due to his jab. . Even what Plant thinks is a broken hand did not really step in or seriously notice, and Truax simply had nothing in his arsenal to put Plant in trouble, although he did with the occasional firm right hand came through.

‘I hurt my hand quite early in the fight, and sometimes I was hesitant, but I still feel like I’m delivering a good performance. I really did not touch, “said Plant.

The battle with Alvarez, the WBC and the WBA title holder, is likely to come this year, between September and December, as Canelo will already fight the obligatory challenger of the WBC, Avni Yildirim, on February 27 and reportedly have an agreement to to unite with the WBO title holder. Billy Joe Saunders in early May.

But Canelo is, of course, the battle Plant wants, and to prevent any significant damage on hand, or losing Canelo every now and then, it seems likely to be the next for Tennessee.

“That’s my goal. I want to be the first undisputed super-middleweight champion of all time, ”said Plant. ‘I feel like I’m the best super middleweight in the world. Whoever gets in the way, you set them up, I’ll throw them down. ”

Michael Coffie TKO-3 Darmani Rock

The 24-year-old Rock was once a top American heavyweight for the American amateur, and had a bit of hype, though an American American amateur does not always mean what it used to mean. He became a pro in 2016 and really did nothing, and it had to be an extremely disappointing result for him who qualified as a pretty big step against a 34-year-old former Marine who did not ‘go boxing’ until he is 29.

It’s not just that Coffie (12-0, 9 KO) is a sincere man with heavy power in his hands. Coffie also took out quite a bit of Rock (17-1, 12 KO) behind a jab. The fight was all Coffie for as long as it lasted.

Rock went down on the left hook in the third, and only, Rare beat referee Jack Reiss’ ten-pointer. Another left hook puts him down again, Reiss counts to seven and calls it out there, because Rock is clearly not getting up. Rock has a structure that – and I’m not trying to be too critical or cowardly about this – gives the impression that he’s just not very committed to his trade. And this is a result that is similar to that, in all honesty. It’s worth wondering just on the eye test and how his career has progressed (or more realistically), just how much he wants to fight as a pro.

“He has fast hands, we knew it from the start, but timing beats faster,” Coffie said after the fight. ‘He shuffles his feet, and when he shuffles his feet, he also lowers his hand, it’s not fitting. It was therefore expected that he would shuffle his feet and then catch him with the left hook. ‘

When asked what he wants next, it is clear that Coffie is following a reasonable approach and is looking for a battle against struggle to climb the ladder.

“Honestly, I’m trying to get someone who’s above Darmani Rock, I want that person,” he said. ‘Then I want someone else above him, and above him. Whoever’s going to get me to that world title. ”

Joey Spencer TKO-1 Isiah Seldon

It was a mess. Spencer (12-0, 9 KO) dropped Seldon (14-4-1, 5 KO) twice with his right hand, and both times hard, and the second time brought him to a halt. In between the result, 32-year-old Seldon, son of retired heavyweight fighter Bruce Seldon, threw a series of blatant, ugly and purposeful shots at the back of Spencer’s head.

Referee Jerry Cantu took two points from Seldon on the offense, not that it mattered. When Cantu stopped the obvious mismatch after the second strike, Seldon screamed ballistically and pounded around until Cantu threatened to take his wallet into the corner.

Seldon is really a club fighter at best and has now lost three of five, all interruptions in the first round due to the prospect. Brian Kenny and Shawn Porter debated Cantu over two points instead of just one or whatever, but to me Cantu would have had a perfectly fair argument to simply disqualify Seldon.

It cannot be exaggerated that he very deliberately, with a clear intent, targeted the back of Spencer’s head unprotected in a vulnerable position and liquidated the right hands he threw. There is no way to look at it and say that he does not want to inflict damage during an illegal attack, one that is genuinely dangerous, even more than just the fact that boxing is inherently very dangerous. It was a horrible behavior, enough to make you wonder if there was any legal beef between the two entering. Look, I’ve already seen Seldon fight, and to be honest, the result I was expecting is first round. But he was very emotional here.

Rances Barthelemy UD-10 All Rivera

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A fairly easy win here for Barthelemy (28-1-1, 14 KO), who has not fought since his historically awful battle with Robert Easter Jr. in 2019. The 34-year-old Cuban has won world titles at 130 and 135, and now says he wants to join Errol Spence Jr. or Terence Crawford at 147, even though it was fought with a catch of 144 pounds, and Barthelemy could probably earn 140 if there is anything. This may not be the case, as Top Rank currently controls all four major titles, although PBC does have a secondary WBA title list Mario Barrios.

Barthélemy is never really exciting, and has not been here, as he has mostly crossed through the ten rounds against the agreed Rivera (21-5, 18 KO), a 27-year-old Philippine southern leg and former 140 pound OPBF champion , For what it’s worth.

This is not the kind of victory that Barthelemy is going to get an appointment with Spence, who might be targeting another Cuban in Yordenis Ugas, but Crawford? Hey, he has such limited options that PBC can be petty and offer him to the highest rank. I do not think it’s a fight that Bob Arum is going to pay for, because it’s not more exciting or ‘legitimate’ than other cheaper fights, but who knows? It’s wild world.

Atif Oberlton TKO-3 Nathan Sharp

It was a pro debut for Oberlton, a 22-year-old lightweight from Philadelphia who was a striking American amateur and decided to become a pro once the 2020 Olympics were postponed, which looks like a very good choice. , as we are likely to be heading for a direct cancellation of the rescheduled 2021 Olympics.

Oberlton in particular threw particularly nasty body shots, which doubled Sharp (4-3, 4 KO) in the second and third rounds, although Sharp was tough and did not go under. However, the 30-year-old from California was stopped for the third time when he was basically a sitting duck, and referee Sharon Sands made a very reasonable call to end a complete mismatch. Oberlton, nicknamed “Lord Pretty Calvo”, is for sure 175 on the prospect list.

Brandyn Lynch D-8 Marcos Hernandez

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The 29-year-old Lynch (10-1-1, 8 KO) increased the competition here. He is the cousin of Eddie Murphy and also the grandson of a pro boxer, who on top of that had something to say, and the Murphy part was repeated during the eight rounds.

I thought Lynch deserved the win here, honestly, I had it 79-73 for him, maybe it would have been 77-75 in his favor if I had some more to Hernandez (14-4-2, 3 KO) clipped on activity, which is surely what two judges saw to give the result of the tie. One judge had it 78-74 Hernandez, which seems far to me, the one 77-75 Lynch, and the other was even 76-76.

Hernandez, 27, is a solid, scrappy gatekeeper, and he kept the gate here and returned after just over a month after following a loss to Alantez Fox on December 26th. But I really thought Lynch deserved this with sharper blows. and superior accuracy. I may be honestly wrong. I do not think I am infallible. The good news is, I’ll never go back and check it out. But I’ll say, our partner Marcos Villegas even got it for FOX, and Julian “J-Rock” Williams had it for Hernandez, so I might have just left here.

If you’re wondering about the CompuBox numbers, Lynch has 99 of 361 (27%) total, and 49 of 159 (31%) of his power shots, with Hernandez at 75 of 525 (14%) and 56 of 260 (22%) power bumps. So Hernandez had a slight lead on power shots, but he was chased out 50-19, and Lynch hit 17 body shots on Hernandez’s six.