I Belong With The Best Super Middleweights

Caleb Plant says he believes he’s still among the top fighters in the super middleweight division, coming off a loss last May to Jose Armando Resendiz.

Name Recognition Keeps Him Relevant

In terms of name recognition, Plant is one of the better-known fighters in the 168-lb division. He’s still an important person in the weight class, which has many younger fighters who have seemingly surpassed him. He’s an old 33 and is going to have to try to get whatever he can out of the sport because he doesn’t have much time left.

He’s not looked great in his last two fights against Resendiz and Trevor McCumby.  The former IBF super middleweight champion Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) lost his WBA interim 168-lb title to Resendiz in a 12-round split decision defeat on May 31 in Las Vegas.

“A lot of big names, a lot of big fights that can be made. I feel like I’m still here at the top,” said Caleb Plant to Ring Magazine about his place in the super middleweight division.

Berlanga, Charlo, Munguia Options

The fights that would be ideal for Plant would be against one of these fighters:

• Edgar Berlanga
• Jermall Charlo
• Jaime Munguia

Those are winnable ones for Plant and would bring him a nice payday. Charlo and he have a history from the slap incident that occurred on July 28, 2023. That was Plant slapped Jermall when he grabbed his beard at the Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford weigh-in.

Caleb is quickly becoming part of the old guard, and he’ll have to be selective with his opponents if he doesn’t want his career to evaporate within a year.

Plant is ranked #5 WBA, #12 WBC at super middleweight. It’s unlikely that newly crowned undisputed super middleweight champion Terence Crawford will show interest in fighting him. Plant’s loss to Resendiz makes him unsuitable for Crawford to fight because there wouldn’t be any fan interest. Canelo Alvarez isn’t going to bother fighting Plant again because he already knocked him out in the 11th round on November 6, 2021.

Can Plant Risk a Resendiz Rematch?

What Plant needs is to avenge his loss to Resendiz, but it might be too risky to try. All the tricks that worked for Caleb in the McCumby fight weren’t effective. ‘Sweethands’ Plant was getting chewed up on the outside against Resendiz. When he chose to take it inside, it was even worse for him.

It would be a good idea for Plant to stay away from these younger fighters:

• Christian Mbilli
• Diego Pacheco
• Lester Martinez
• Osleys Iglesias

Written by Ken Woods, Ringside Boxing Analyst covering world title fights since 2018.