Caleb Hunter Plant (born July 8, 1992) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

who held the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

super middleweight Super middleweight, or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing In professional boxing, super middleweight is contested between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, in which boxers can weigh between 160 pounds ( ...

title from 2019 to 2021. As of November 2021, he is ranked as the world's third-best active super middleweight by the

Transnational Boxing Rankings Board The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) is an all-volunteer initiative formed in October 2012 with the intention of providing professional boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identifying the singular world champion of every divisio ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and '' The Ring'', and sixth by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

Personal life

Plant's daughter, Alia Plant, suffered an unknown medical condition that caused seizures. Alia died in January 2015, at the age of 19 months after she caught a respiratory infection which developed to pneumonia. In March 2019, his mother, Beth Plant, was shot by police after pulling a knife on an officer. She later died in a hospital. Plant is married to Jordan Plant, a Fox Sports reporter. They met in 2016 and were married in November 2019.

Amateur career

Caleb Plant took up boxing at age 8. He won the 2011

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

in the

light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

division. Plant was an alternate for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. As an amateur Caleb won numerous tournament titles while compiling a record of 97 wins with 20 defeats.

Professional career

Early career

Plant made his professional debut on May 10, 2014, when he was scheduled to fight Travis Davidson. He won the fight by a first-round knockout, ending the fight after just 47 seconds. He won his next eight fights, five of them by stoppage. Plant won his next two fight against Jamar Freeman and Tyrone Brunson by decision, before scoring another two knockouts against Adasat Rodriguez and Carlos Galvan. Plant fought Juan De Angel on August 23, 2016. It was the first ten round fight in Plant's career. He won the fight by a convincing unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 100-89 in his favor. Plant fought Thomas Awimbono in the main event of PBC on FOX, on February 25, 2017. Plant beat Awimbono by unanimous decision, with scores of 100–89, 100–89 and 99–90. Plant fought Alan Campa on September 8, 2017. Campa later withdrew from the bout, for undisclosed reasons, and was replaced by Andrew Hernandez. The fight was Plant's

Showtime Championship Boxing ''Showtime Championship Boxing'' is a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. ''Showtime Championship Boxing'', which is very similar to ''HBO World Champi ...

debut. Plant completely dominated his opponent, with the judges awarding him every single round of the fight. Plant, at the time the #6 ranked IBF super middleweight was scheduled to fight the #12 ranked

Rogelio Medina Rogelio Medina (born September 16, 1988) is a Mexican professional boxer who challenged for the IBF super middleweight title in 2016. Early life and amateur career Medina started practicing boxing as a kid. Medina would sneak out of his parent ...

, on February 17, 2018. The was an IBF super middleweight eliminator for the number #2 ranking slot, as well as for the position of the IBF mandatory title challenger. Plant utilized his jab to score points and accumulate damage on the advancing Medina, while using his superior ring-craft to stay out of Medina's punching range. Plant won the fight by a wide unanimous decision, with scores of 120–108, 119–109, 117–111.

IBF super middleweight champion

Plant vs. Uzcátegui

In his 18th professional fight, Plant was scheduled to challenge the reigning

champion José Uzcátegui, on January 13, 2019. Uzcátegui was the former interim IBF super middleweight champion, and was later elevated to full champion when

James DeGale James Frederick DeGale (born 3 February 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2019. He held the IBF super-middleweight title twice between 2015 and 2018, and regionally the European and British super-middleweig ...

vacated his title. It was Uzcátegui's first title defense. Plant was the IBF mandatory, having earned the right to challenge for the title after defeating

by unanimous decision. The fight was later postponed, as Plant suffered a broken left hand in training camp. Plant needed surgery to repair the injury followed by rehabilitation. While Plant was recovering from his injury, Uzcátegui beat Ezequiel Maderna by unanimous decision, in a non-title bout contested on September 28, 2018. His fight with Uzcátegui was rescheduled for January 13, 2019. The eleven month layoff from his bout with Medina was the longest in Plant's professional career. Plant came into the bout as a +161 underdog, while Uzcátegui was a -200 favorite to defend the title. Plant got off to a great start, managing to score a knockdown in the second round. He had caught the off-balanced Uzcátegui with a left hook, which dropped the champion to the canvas. After sustaining a cut outside his right eye in the third round, Plant would once again knock the champion down with a left hook in the fourth round. Sticking to his outfighting gameplan, Plant remained dominant until the ninth round, during which he was staggered by a short uppercut from Uzcátegui. After losing both the ninth and tenth rounds, Plant made a comeback in the eleventh round. Plant won the fight by unanimous decision, with scores of 116–110, 116–110 and 115–111. Plant out-landed Uzcátegui by 217 to 157 punches, landing more jabs and power shots along the way.

Plant vs. Lee

Plant made his first IBF title defense against

Mike Lee Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Utah, a seat he has held since 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. Lee began his career as a clerk for the U ...

, on July 20, 2019. Lee had spent his career competing at light-heavyweight, but moved down to super middleweight to challenge for his first world championship. The fight was scheduled as the lead-in for the

Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman, was a boxing match for the World Boxing Association#Super titles, WBA (Super) welterweight championship. The event took place on July 20, 2019 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pacquiao won the ...

pay-per-view. As Lee was moving down from light-heavyweight, and considering he had never faced the level of opposition that Plant had, Lee wasn't seen as a serious threat to Plant. Accordingly, Plant came into the bout as a -1944 favorite, while Lee was a +1119 underdog. Plant completely dominated his opponent throughout the bout, earning a technical knockout victory midway through the third round. Plant knocked Lee down after just 37 seconds into the first round, and out-landed the challenger 18–3. Plant staggered Lee with a body shot in the second round, and increased the number of landed shots to 41, compared to Lee's seven. Plant knocked his opponent down three times in the third round: the first knockdown came after Plant landed a right straight, the second after a left hook, while the third knockdown was once again the result of a right straight. Referee Robert Byrd decided to stop the bout at the 1:29 minute mark. Lee's domination was such that '' The Ring'' magazine declared him a "glorified club fighter".

Plant vs. Feigenbutz

For his second title defense, Plant fought the #3 ranked IBF super middleweight and mandatory challenger

Vincent Feigenbutz Vincent Feigenbutz (born 11 September 1995) is a German professional boxer. He held the WBA (Regular) super-middleweight title in 2016 and challenged for the IBF super-middleweight title in 2020. Professional career Feigenbutz turned pro at the ...

, on February 15, 2020. The fight was scheduled as the main event for PBC on Fox, and was Plant's first fight in his native

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

. Feigenbutz was seen as yet another easy opponent for Plant, with

The Athletic ''The Athletic'' is a subscription-based sports website that provides national and local coverage in 47 North American cities as well as the United Kingdom. ''The Athletic'' also covers national stories from top professional and college sports ...

stating it would be "hard to envision Plant having much trouble defusing Feigenbutz's offense and then finding a rhythm and turning the bout into target practice". Plant came into the bout as an overwhelming favorite. Plant justified his role as the favorite, winning by a tenth-round technical knockout, after dominating Feigenbutz through all ten rounds leading up to the knockout. Plant, the longer and taller fighter, utilized his jab to keep the shorter Feigenbutz at distance. After establishing his jab, Plant landed power shots to both the body and head of his opponent. Referee Malik Waleed finally stepped in at the 2:23 minute mark of the tenth round, deeming Feigenbutz unable to continue intelligently defending himself. Afterward, Feigenbutz said: "I can't disagree with the stoppage. The referee did a very good job".

Plant vs. Truax

Plant made his third title defense against the former

titleholder

Caleb Truax Caleb Truax (born September 14, 1983) is an American professional boxer. He held the IBF super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018 and challenged once for the WBA (Regular) middleweight title in 2015. Personal life Truax is a native of Osseo ...

, on January 30, 2021. It was the second consecutive time that Plant headlined a PBC on Fox event. Truax was seen as a step-up in competition, compared to Plant's last two opponents. However, many fans expressed their disappointment with the match-up, as it was expected that Plant would fight

Canelo Álvarez Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of ...

in a super middleweight title unification bout. Regarding the Canelo fight, Plant said in a pre-fight interview: "my manager Luis DeCubas just felt like with that being five weeks away, which is about four weeks of training, he just felt like a fight of that magnitude that he didn't want to pull the trigger on it". Plant dominated the fight by outboxing Truax from a distance, while Truax tried unsuccessfully to get closer and force the action at close range. Truax suffered a bruise and a cut by the end of the fourth round. In the fifth, Truax upped the pressure, but Plant used his jab punch to stay out of trouble. Round eight saw Truax connect with a troublesome right to Plant's jaw, while Plant tried to get a knockout win in the ninth, becoming a bit more aggressive. In the twelfth and final round, Truax, seemingly sensing he needed a knockout to win the fight, threw punches from all angles in an effort to land a knockout punch, but Plant did not get hurt. After the scheduled twelve rounds of fighting were over, Plant was announced as winner by unanimous decision, the three judges scoring the bout by 120–108 in his favor, meaning he won all twelve rounds on each of the judges' scorecards.

Plant vs. Álvarez

Plant fought the reigning

WBA (Super) The World Boxing Association (WBA), formerly known as the National Boxing Association (NBA), is the oldest and one of four major organizations which sanction professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxi ...

, WBC, WBO and ''The Ring'' super middleweight champion

in a title unification bout on November 6, 2021 at the

MGM Grand Garden Arena The MGM Grand Garden Arena (originally known as the MGM Grand Garden Special Events Center) is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose arena located within the MGM Grand Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Sporting events From its opening on December 18, 1993 ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

, United States. The winner of the bout was set to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history. Plant entered the bout as an underdog for the first time since his fight with José Uzcátegui, with most odds-makers having him as a +550 underdog. Plant lost the bout via eleventh round technical knockout losing the IBF title, with the loss also being the very first in his professional career. At the time of the stoppage, Plant was behind on all three scorecards with 98–92, 96–94, and 97–93. Plant earned a $10 million guaranteed purse, plus 40% of the PPV proceeds.

Post championship career

Plant vs. Dirrell

Plant was booked to face the former two-time WBC

champion

Anthony Dirrell Anthony Dirrell (born October 14, 1984) is an American professional boxer. He was a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, having held the title in 2019 and previously from 2014 to 2015. He is the younger brother of 2004 Olympic bronze medal ...

in a WBC super middleweight title eliminator, on the undercard of the

Deontay Wilder Deontay Leshun Wilder (; born October 22, 1985) is an American professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title from 2015 to 2020, making 10 successful defenses. By winning the title, Wilder became the first American world heavyweight ch ...

vs.

Robert Helenius Robert Gabriel Helenius (born 2 January 1984) is a Finnish professional boxer. At regional level, he has held multiple heavyweight championships, including the European title twice between 2011 and 2016. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at th ...

heavyweight bout, which took place at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty o ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was broadcast as part of a

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

PBC

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

on October 15, 2022. Plant knocked out Dirrell in the ninth round with an emphatic left hook to the head, before immediately celebrating by miming digging his opponent's grave while Dirrell was receiving medical attention, as he still remained motionless on the canvas. Although referee Harvey Dock was quick to attempt to prevent Plant from celebrating in this manner, Plant continued to mime grave-digging.

Plant vs. Benavidez

On November 3, 2022, Plant and

David Benavidez Anthony David Benavidez (born December 17, 1996) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time WBC super middleweight champion, having held the title from 2017 to 2018 and again from 2019 to 2020. Claiming his first belt at 21 years, eig ...

both revealed that they had agreed terms to face each other. The fight was scheduled as the main event of a

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

, which is expected to take place on March 25, 2023, at the

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Professional boxing record

Amateur kickboxing record

, - style="background:#cfc;" , 2013-13-30 , , Win , , align=left, Scott Legus , , International Kickboxing Federation , ,

Mounds View, Minnesota Mounds View is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 12,155 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. U.S. Rout ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, , Decision (Unanimous) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2010-07-25 , , Win , , align=left, Richie Plant , , 2010 IKF World Classic Amateur Championships, Tournament Final , ,

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, , TKO , , 1 , , 2:59 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2010-07-24 , , Win , , align=left, David Bourne , , 2010 IKF World Classic Amateur Championships, Tournament Semifinal , ,

, , Decision (Unanimous) , , 3 , , 3:00 , - , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2010-07-23 , , Win , , align=left, Shawn Dahl , , 2010 IKF World Classic Amateur Championships, Tournament Quarterfinal , ,

, , TKO , , 1 , , 1:43 , - , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2009-10-09 , , Win , , align=left, Rob Burbridge , , USA vs. UK: World Championship Kickboxing , ,

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, , Decision (Split) , , 5 , , 3:00 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , - style="background:#fbb;" , 2009-07-26 , , Loss , , align=left, Simon Buettner , , 2009 IKF World Classic Amateur Championships, Tournament Final , ,

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, , KO , , 1 , , 1:40 , - , - style="background:#cfc;" , 2007-08-12 , , Win , , align=left, Devin Ward , , 2007 IKF World Classic Amateur Championships, Tournament Final , ,

, , TKO , , 3 , , 0:50 , - ! style=background:white colspan=9 , , - , colspan=9 , ''Legend'':

Pay-per-view bouts

Professional boxing

References

External links

*
Biography at IKF KickboxingCaleb Plant - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plant, Caleb 1992 births Living people American male boxers Boxers from Tennessee People from Ashland City, Tennessee Super-middleweight boxers World super-middleweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions National Golden Gloves champions