Jermall Charlo Still Wants Caleb Plant Fight Despite Upset Loss To Armando Resendiz

Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) says he’s still interested in fighting Caleb Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) next despite him losing to Armando Resendiz (16-2, 11 KOs) by an upset 12-round splitt decision in what was supposed to be his tune-up at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

Charlo: “Make a Belt”

At the post-fight press conference tonight, Charlo said he doesn’t care that Plant, 32, lost his WBA interim super middleweight title to Resendiz. He says that somebody can create a belt for him and Plant to fight over.

It won’t be surprising if one of the sanctioning bodies quickly takes Jermall up on his desire for one of their trinket belts to be on the line for a fight between him and Plant.

Interestingly, Jermall expressed no desire to fight Resendiz, which suggests that his primary focus is on money rather than anything else. The timing is bad for Charlo and Plant to fight after tonight’s event. It doesn’t matter that Charlo doesn’t care that Plant lost.

Public Doubts Plant-Charlo Fight

The boxing public DOES care. It would be forlorn to go through with the plans for the Caleb Plant vs. Jermall Charlo fight. What kind of message does that send to people that the loser Plant is still going to fight Charlo instead of Resendiz? That’s not even sporting.

Jermall defeated journeyman Thomas LaManna (39-6-1, 18 KOs) by a sixth-round TKO in the co-feature. The ringside doctor advised for the fight to be halted after the fifth. LaManna had been knocked down in rounds 3, 4, and 5. He’s also been hurt in the waning seconds of the fifth.

“I know I just got a victory and I’ve been inactive, but my goal is to be more active,” said Jermall Charlo at the post-fight press conference after stopping Thomas LaManna on Saturday night. “I’m not perfect, but my record is.”

Jermall didn’t look that great either tonight. His physique didnt look toned like it used to be. He even looked better physically in his last fight two years ago, coming off a 2.5-year layoff. He wasn’t as sharp as he was back then, and nowhere near how he’d performed in 2021.

“We got to go back to the drawing board with this one. Caleb Plant dropped the ball. He looked out of shape. He couldn’t have fought me tonight,” said Charlo, when asked if he still plans on fighting Plant next after his upset loss to Armando Resendiz. “Yeah,I wish it would happen.”

Plant didn’t look in great shape either. He appeared 10 lbs heavier than in his previous fight and was sluggish from the get-go. I don’t know why he chose to come in heavy for this fight, but it was the wrong thing to do against the smaller Resendiz.

Charlo Wants Plant Despite Loss

“I’m not here to bash nobody or talk down on nobody, but Caleb Plant dropped the ball on this one,” said Charlo.” I still want my lick back. I don’t care if he got the belt [WBA interim super middleweight title] or not. We can make a belt. They can make a belt. Somebody make a belt. I want my lick back,” said Jermall about still wanting to fight Plant next despite him losing tonight.

If Charlo wants his revenge against Plant, he needs to wait until after he either avenges his loss to Resendiz or defeats someone else. After this loss, I don’t think Plant is capable of beating any of the top super middleweights. He looked physically washed up. If he were to fight someone like Christian Mbilli, Diego Pacheco, or even Edgar Berlanga, he’d lose to all of them.

“I want to fight Canelo and I want to fight Plant. I want to take those big fights if they are there,” said Charlo.

Canelo isn’t going to fight Jermall unless Turki Alalshikh wants that fight to happen. If that fight were to happen, it wouldn’t be until next year.