Caleb Truax (born September 14, 1983) 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 ...

. He held the IBF super middleweight title from 2017 to 2018 and challenged once for the

WBA (Regular) 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 ...

middleweight title in 2015.

Personal life

Truax is a native of Osseo,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. He has a twin sister, Erin Truax, and a younger brother, Seth Martinez. Truax is a 2002 graduate of

Osseo Senior High School Osseo Senior High School is a four-year public high school located in Osseo, Minnesota, United States on 317 2nd Ave. NW. The principal is Sara Vernig. Osseo Senior High School is a part of the Osseo Area School District 279 and is one of three ...

. While attending high school, he was an all-conference member of the Osseo Orioles football and baseball teams. Truax then played football at

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of hi ...

for one year before a knee injury ended his gridiron career. He returned home in 2003 to attend the University of Minnesota, and it was there at the age of 19 that Truax entered a local Toughman contest. He lost his first fight, but soon became consumed by boxing—altering his diet and training as he pursued an amateur career. Truax graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

majoring in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation an ...

, minoring in both African American studies and

Political Science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Amateur career

Truax compiled a record of 21 wins and 8 losses. In 2006 he was the USA Boxing State Champion, the Region 1 Champion, and the Upper Midwest Golden Gloves Champion.

Professional career

Caleb Truax debuted as a professional fighter in April 2007 with a 2nd-round knockout of Ray Walker. As of March 2015, Truax has a professional record of 25 wins, one loss, and two draws. Truax has defeated Ossie Duran,

Matt Vanda Matt Vanda (born October 16, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. Professional career Vanda's made his professional debut on March 30, 1996 in the welterweight division against Ed Fuller in Kearney, Nebr ...

, Andy Kolle, Phil Williams, Jonathan Reid, Antwun Echols, Durrell Richardson, and James Crayton. His professional loss came to former

undisputed Undisputed may refer to: Film * ''Undisputed'' (film), a 2002 action-thriller-drama film ** ''Undisputed'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film * Undisputed II: Last Man Standing, a 2006 American martial arts film * Undisputed III: Redempt ...

middleweight

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Jermain Taylor Jermain Taylor (born August 11, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2014. He remains the most recent undisputed middleweight champion, having won the WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, ''Ring'' magazine, a ...

(Truax knocked Taylor down in the 9th round.) Truax drew Ossie Duran in a 10-round non-title bout at the

Target Center Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, ...

in Minneapolis. The bout was part of an eight-fight card promoted by Mike Tyson's new company,

Iron Mike Productions Iron Mike Productions (formerly Acquinity Sports) was a boxing promotion company, based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, United States. Acquinity Sports was founded in 2012 by Garry Jonas, CEO of Acquinity Interactive which abruptly ceased operation ...

. Mike Tyson was in attendance at the event, and said of Truax, "I hear he is exciting and he is something that we need for boxing, he is a breath of fresh air because boxing is in the doldrums right now. I'm looking forward to seeing him and if he is as much as everyone has told me."

WBA title bout

Truax faced Daniel Jacobs for the

Middleweight title on April 24, 2015, and was stopped with 48 seconds left in the 12th and final round. A TKO loss. However Truax surprised the critics almost going the distance. The fight was broadcast on Spike TV as part of the

Premier Boxing Champions ''Premier Boxing Champions'' (PBC) is an ongoing series of televised boxing events connected to manager Al Haymon. PBC was initially promoted as an effort to return boxing to mainstream broadcast and cable television, as opposed to premium chann ...

IBF World Super Middleweight title fight

On 9 December 2017, Truax fought British fighter James 'Chunky' DeGale at the

Copper Box Arena The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted mo ...

in London, England, for Degale's IBF World Super Middleweight Title. Truax got off the mark the quickest and hit DeGale with several heavy shots throughout the fight. Although DeGale used his experience to come back into the fight in later rounds, it turned out to be too little too late. Truax showed great stamina and endurance to win the fight against the odds by

Majority Decision A majority decision (MD) is a winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts and others sports involving striking. In a majority decision, two of the three judges agree on whi ...

, with scores of 116-112, 115-112 and 114-114 in favor of Truax. Although there was no re-match in the contract, DeGale immediately expressed his wish for a second fight upon losing. Truax's victory was possibly one of the biggest boxing upsets of 2017, with both

Bookmakers A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookma ...

and Boxing Media heavily favoring DeGale pre-fight.

Truax vs DeGale II

The rematch happened four months after, in Las Vegas. In what was a close and very competitive fight, Truax was overmatched by DeGale. The fight was full of clinches and headbutts, especially DeGale who got cut over his right eye, and was a bloody mess by the end of the fight. In the end, all three judges scored the fight in favor of DeGale, two of them scoring it 114-113 and one judge seeing a wider victory for DeGale, scoring the fight 117-100 in favor of DeGale. On 13 April 2019, Truax fought Peter Quillin. The fight endend in a no-contest, because of an accidental head clash which caused a severe cut over Truax's right eye. After the fight, Truax stated that we was ready to continue, but the ringside physician made the final call. In his next fight, Truax faced David Basajjamivule in his home state of Minnesota. Truax was more effective than his opponent during the fight, while Basajjamivule got a point deducted in two occasions, once for hitting Truax at the back of his head, and once for holding. Truax won the fight via majority-decision.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Caleb Truax profile
from

Caleb Truax - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Truax, Caleb 1983 births Living people University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts alumni Boxers from Minnesota Middleweight boxers Super-middleweight boxers World super-middleweight boxing champions International Boxing Federation champions American male boxers People from Osseo, Minnesota African-American boxers 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people