Caleb Plant appears to realize that he hasn’t reached pound-for-pound status just yet.

The IBF super middleweight champion seems confident, though, that he is building toward such recognition. Plant discussed his pound-for-pound potential following a dominant, unanimous-decision victory over mandatory challenger Caleb Truax last Saturday night in Los Angeles.

“I believe the talent and the skill is there,” Plant stated. “You know, I only have 21 fights. This is my third title defense. And, you know, I think with more performances like I’ve been putting on, I feel like in due time that I’ll, 100 percent, no doubt in my mind, I’ll be there on the pound-for-pound list. So, it’s just gonna take some more performances, that’s all.”

The 28-year-old Plant is undefeated (21-0, 12 KOs), has made three relatively easy defenses of the IBF 168-pound championship he won from Jose Uzcategui in January 2019 and is in prime position to challenge Canelo Alvarez for supremacy in their division later this year.

Plant obviously would get an opportunity to prove his pound-for-pound worthiness versus Alvarez (54-1-2, 36 KOs), a four-division champion considered by many to be the best boxer in the sport. The Ashland City, Tennessee, native has fought a low level of opposition, however, since he beat Venezuela’s Uzcategui by unanimous decision two years ago at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

He has been a huge favorite over Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz and Truax since he upended Uzcategui (29-4, 24 KOs).

Plant stopped Lee (21-1, 11 KOs), an optional opponent, in the third round of their July 2019 fight at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. In his subsequent bout, Plant beat Germany’s Feigenbutz (32-3, 28 KOs), his mandatory challenger, by 10th-round technical knockout last February 15 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Truax is a former IBF super middleweight champ, but Plant’s second straight mandatory challenger is 37 and barely beat an unknown, 41-year-old opponent in his previous fight a year earlier. Nevertheless, Plant impressed in a televised main event by completely out-classing Truax (31-5-2, 19 KOs, 1 NC), of St. Michael, Minnesota.

Each judge scored all 12 rounds for Plant in a fight FOX aired from Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall.

“I felt like I stung him a couple times,” Plant said. “And I tried to put my foot on the gas, and you know, when I did, I felt like he just tried to move away a bit. But I felt like I put combinations together well, I showed good speed, good footwork, good defense, and [it was] just a really well-rounded performance.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.