Caleb Plant is in a must-win position with his career heading into his fight against Trevor McCumby on Saturday night on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
(Credit: Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
With the 32-year-old Plant’s inactivity and two defeats in his last three contests, he can’t afford to suffer a defeat against McCumby (28-0, 21 KOs) and keep alive his hopes for a rematch with Canelo.
The former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) wants to remain a marketable name, but his decision to slow down his career after his big payday against Canelo makes it hard for him to continue to be seen as one of the top guys in the 168-lb division.
Plant is fighting McCumby in a 12-round contest for the WBA interim super middleweight title. If Plant wins, he’ll hold a partial title that could help him get the rematch with Canelo he’s been hoping for. However, a loss to McCumby will put Plant where it may be difficult to come back.
If both fighters get beaten on Saturday, Plant would have a good option for a losers bracket fight against Berlanga, but Edgar’s management isn’t likely to agree to that fight. Berlanga has been matched very carefully to build up his 22-0 record, and they won’t want him to face Plant.
The quickest way for Plant to get back to the top after a loss to McCumby would be to beat Christian Mbilli, Jaime Munguia, or Diego Pacheco. If he can beat one of them. he’ll be in a good position for a rematch with Canelo.
“Caleb is wise enough to know that he’s going to have to respect him. Both of these men have got a lot to gain, and they’ve got a lot to lose,” said Tim Bradley to Probox TV about the Caleb Plant vs. Trevor McCumby fight this Saturday night.
Plant isn’t good enough to overlook McCumby, and I don’t think he has the power or the youth to assume he’ll win. The only guy Plant has beaten in the last three years is 38-year-old Anthony Dirrell in 2022, and he was having many problems against this fighter.
That was two years ago. If Plant was struggling against a 40-ish Dirrell, McCumby could give him nightmares, especially with him coming off an 18-month layoff.
“If Caleb loses this fight, I don’t know where he goes from here. If McCumby loses this fight, he’s going to have to rebuild again. Both of these guys are in their early 30s. It should be a fantastic fight, a more competitive fight than people have given it,” said Bradley.
If Plant can’t get fights against MBilli, Pacheco, or Munguia, he’ll have to look at fighters like Jermall Charlo or Erik Bazinyan. Moving up to 175 for a fight or two would help Plant as well because there are a lot of fighters that would face him.
“I think there’s a lot of good fights for him. He has a name; he’s a former champion. He fought both Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez. He’s willing to fight anybody. I think there’s a ton of opportunities at this stage of his career. He just has to get active,” said Chris Algieri about Plant.
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