Caleb Plant has seemingly mastered the art of hitting while not getting hit. However, though he often leaves the ring relatively unscathed, his inability to truly punish his opponents has been criticized.
With the newly turned 30-year-old pegged to take on Anthony Dirrell in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center later on tonight, the former two-time WBC belt holder has spent the duration of their promotion dismissing Plant’s knockout power.
Still, even with Dirrell’s persistent need to point out his lack of KO finishes, Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) believes that considering his track record, Dirrell’s statements are simply erroneous.
“It’s funny cause people say that I may not hit hard but in most of my fights, you find people getting to the point where they're just standing there looking at me,” said Plant to krikya360.com. “If I don't hit hard, why not keep charging forward, cutting off the ring, and doing what you're supposed to do?”
Though Plant maintains that his power is more than respectable, in his most recent outing, he found himself on the wrong end of a stoppage defeat. On November 6th, 2021, Plant confidently made his way to the ring to take on Canelo Alvarez. Nevertheless, despite his self-belief, Alvarez eventually wore his man down, resulting in an 11th-round stoppage victory and the end of Plant’s IBF super middleweight title reign.
Dirrell, coincidently, was given front-row seats to their showdown as he faced off against Marcos Hernandez in the co-main event on the night. After out-boxing his man through the first three rounds, Dirrell landed an eye-catching uppercut in the fourth, immediately rendering his man unconscious.
According to the Flint, Michigan native, he envisions a similar fate in store for his upcoming foe. But while Dirrell insists that he’ll march forward all night long, Plant believes that the former champion will be making a grave mistake.
In January of 2019, Plant found himself standing across from Jose Uzcategui. Before the two initially met in the ring, Uzcategui had gained a reputation as one of the super middleweight division’s more durable fighters and fiercest punchers. But, in any event, Plant became just the second man to send Uzcategui crashing down to the canvas before snagging his IBF world title. Though their showdown took place several years ago, Plant urges Dirrell to sit down and rewind the tape of their bout, before deducing that he has little to no knockout power.
“How many times had he been dropped in his career? He got dropped by Mat Korobov one time but other than that, I'm the only person to put him down.”