Fans want to see Caleb Plant square off against Christian Mbilli to see how well he fares against one of the top five contenders in the super middleweight division.
This will give Plant the chance to show he can beat one of the elite contenders, something he has never done in his decade-long career.
Plant’s claim to fame is from beating lesser guys, many of them underclassmen, and the paper champion he beat to briefly become the IBF 168-lb belt holder in 2019.
Fighting No. 1-ranked WBC contender Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) will give Plant a chance to show she can beat a top-five guy.
Plant’s career = All smoke and mirrors
Plant has not beaten a top-five level fighter in five years since his close 12-round unanimous decision victory over IBF super middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui in 2019.
Caleb Plant’s best wins:
– Jose Uzcategui: Paper Champion
– Anthony Dirrell: 38 years old
– Trevor McCumby: Unproven fringe contender
– Caleb Truax: 40 years old
– Mike Lee: Fringe Contender
– Vincent Feigenbutz: Unknown Warrior
– Rogelio Medina: Journeyman
It was against an average fighter who didn’t belong as a champion. After losing to Plant, Uzcategui was immediately beaten by Lionel Thompson and Vladimir Shishkin. So you can’t consider Uzcategui a true top-five fighter.
Plant has never beaten a top five level in his career, so it is important for him to fight Mbilli to show that he belongs among the best fighters, because he has not shown that he deserves praise for taking his entire 10 year-long career beat tomato cans. It was all smoke and mirrors with Plant.
We saw former IBF 168-lb champion Plant (23-2, 14 KOs) take out a non-top five fighter, #8-WBA ranked Trevor McCumby (28-1, 21 KOs) last Saturday night with his ninth – round knockout of the little-known fighter at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The fighters Plant wants next are far removed from his galaxy, and he’s been too inactive lately to get any of them interested in fighting him. The guy Plant handpicked for his comeback fight last Saturday, McCumby, was a complete unknown. Even hardcore boxing fans have never heard of him.
‘Sweethands’ Plant Must Prove Itself
So it seemed silly for Plant to call out Canelo Alvarez, Edgar Berlanga and Jermall Charlo after the fight. With a 2-2 record in Plant’s last four fights, and his only wins against the unknown McCumby and 38-year-old Anthony Dirrell, he hasn’t done enough to get a fight against Canelo, Berlanga or Jermall.
Plant was knocked down by McCumby in the fourth and hurt a few times in the early hours. The fight could have ended in a knockout if McCumby had more of a ring IQ, as he seemed clueless when Plant made a small adjustment by fighting in close.
Plant had to take the fight to the inside so he could rally and stop the Illinois native McCumby, who showed he didn’t know how to fight on the inside and was slow to make adjustments to move the contest to the center of the ring. take. .
Mbilli is an excellent inside fighter. So, if Plant couldn’t handle Mbilli’s outside game, he wouldn’t have a plan B fighting from the inside like he could against McCumby.
After the fight, which was a very tough one for Plant, he called out Canelo Alvarez, Edgar Berlanga and Jermall Charlo and said he wanted one of them next. It’s probably a pipe dream for Plant, though, unless Premier Boxing Champions want to offer one of those three an enormous guaranteed purse for a fight that’s likely to bleed money.
Plant is not a big enough name nationally in the US for him to be used to sell a rematch with Canelo, a fight against Berlanga, or a fight against the inactive 34-year-old Jermall Charlo. If PBC tried to sell those contests to the public on PPV, they would be dead on arrival (DOA).
Caleb Plant’s wish list
Canelo Alvarez
Edgar Berlanga
Jermall Charlo
“When I sparred, I caught a lot of guys with left hooks while I was back on the ropes. It was one of my better shots. I tried to catch him, but I couldn’t get him clean enough. He’s adjusted well,” Trevor McCumby said.
