Caleb Plant says he takes it personally that the 14-year-old professional Trevor McCumby waited until him before taking a jump up in competition at 31 for their 12-round battle for the WBA interim super middleweight title on September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
(Credit: Alex Sanchez/Premier Boxing Champions)
McCumby’s Late Jump a Sign of Doubt?
The former IBF 168-lb champion Plant (22-2, 13 KOs) sees that move by McCumby (28-0, 21 KOs) as a sign that he thinks he can beat him, and he feels he can’t do that.
If McCumby views Plant 32 as beatable, it’s understandable why. He’s lost two out of his last three fights and hasn’t fought a year and a half. Plant isn’t a big puncher, and the thing McCumby has to worry about the most is losing a decision.
In several of Plant’s fights since 2019, he’s gassed out after six rounds, resulting in two defeats and one near loss. If McCumby wins some of the early rounds, he’s got a good chance of winning a decision by outworking Plant in the second half.
Plant-McCumby is fighting on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga, which is live on DAZN PPV.
“This is his chance. I know he wants to get that W. If he truly believed in his skills, he wouldn’t have waited until he was 28-0 to make that jump. He wouldn’t wait until he was 31 years old,” said Caleb Plant to the media, talking about his opponent, Trevor McCumby, for September 14th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Plant’s own Confidence
McCumby might lack confidence, but the same thing might apply to Plant. If he had believed in himself, he would have stayed active during the last year and fought someone better than McCumby. Plant agreeing to this fight tells you something about him.
“You know I believe in my skills, and that’s why I took the jump with 17 fights [against José Uzcátegui in 2019]. Even in the Canelo and David [Benavidez] fights, I fell short, but the self-belief was there. That’s why I took the fights,” said Plant.
Uzcategui wasn’t much of a jump-up for Plant, given that he’s already lost to Matt Korobov and Andre Dirrell. Making a big deal out of fighting Uzcategui is strange because that guy wasn’t great before he fought Plant, and he’s looked just as mediocre since, losing to Lionel Thompson and Vladimir Shishkin.
“The man who truly believes in himself is usually the man who is going to come out on top,” said Plant. “I expect to have my hand raised on September 14th. That’s the goal; that’s the plan. To show him [McCumby] that there are levels
“I take it personally that he’s waited this long to step up, and he chooses me to be his first step-up fighter. Obviously, he thinks he can beat me by doing that, and I take it personally. So, I plan on showing him,” said Plant about McCumby picking him out as his first step-up opponent during his 14-year career.
McCumby sees Plant just like a lot of fighters and fans do. He’s vulnerable and just a regular run-of-the-mill contender. The only reason he won a belt was because he had a weak paper champion, Uzcategui, who held the title.
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