Caleb Plant fought Saturday like one of the best fighters in the world. It was no shock that he would not only defeat, but dominate, former champion Caleb Truax in their IBF super middleweight title fight Saturday in Los Angeles.
Plant, after all, was as high as a 30-1 favorite.
He showed why in the bout, out-landing Truax by roughly a 4-to-1 margin while outboxing him and landing the harder punches. Plant had a 179-47 edge in punches connected.
The only negative was that Plant was unable to finish Truax despite peppering him round after round with shots to the head. Truax showed plenty of grit and determination, but he was way overmatched and was never in the fight. He took a unanimous decision, winning by scores of 120-108 on all three judges’ cards. Yahoo Sports called it 120-108 for Plant.
“I feel I put on a good performance and I didn’t get touched really,” said Plant, who said he felt he broke his left hand. “I think I put on a great performance.”
Truax never quit trying, but Plant had his way with him through the bout, which was the main event of a card filled with mismatches on Fox. The main event was no exception, as Plant, who is gunning for a fall bout with Canelo Alvarez, took charge of the bout from the opening moments.
Plant landed an impressive variety of punches, with the one constant a jab that he used to set everything else up. His defense was also excellent, as he showed good head movement to go along with excellent lateral movement.
Plant, who is now 21-0, hadn’t faced the kind of opposition that Truax had. Truax had fought Daniel Jacobs, Peter Quillin, James DeGale, Anthony Dirrell and Jermain Taylor, among others. Plant has no such name on his résumé, but he fought like he was at that level as he went after Truax and peppered him with clean, hard shots.
Plant never had Truax down or seriously hurt, though Truax was showing the effects of all the punishment by the midpoint of the bout.
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