Boxing Challenge: Plant shuts out Truax

   In a fight where almost everything that was predicted happened (other than if you predicted a late-round stoppage like I did), Caleb Plant defended his IBF Super Middleweight title via a unanimous decision over Caleb Truax.

I thought Plant won every round (120-108) and although he never seriously hurt Truax, Plant busted Truax up around both eyes and had he not injured his left hand as he claimed after the fight, may have scored the stoppage.

I've made my points several times about the lousy quality of Plant's opponents in the past and the shopworn Truax didn't boost that very much, but let's look at the good things about Plant.

Plant is very skilled, has quick hands, isn't easy to hit, and may be a difficult opponent for the best of the division (Canelo Alvarez, David Benavidez, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders) to handle.

The problem for me and it's the most difficult part for me to get past with Caleb Plant is the competition level and it's for two reasons.

The first is that it makes me wonder about what his team and promoters know about him and are they protecting him for one big cash-in?

I don't claim to know the answer to that question, we will find that out in a possible fall fight against Canelo Alvarez, as Plant would be silly to face a strong opponent now with the Canelo payday on the horizon, but there are legitimate questions to answer for the Tennessee native.

How will Plant react in such a fight when it becomes needed to vary his attack, battle through getting hurt or fight a hard twelve rounds against someone capable of defeating him?

Part of developing a fighter is testing them against opponents that may not defeat them but can challenge them and force them to answer various questions that all fighters must answer.

Caleb Plant's team has developed a talented world champion who is going to make a lot of money and if that is the success that you are looking for then they have done their job well.

However, if your goal is to best prepare your fighter to win that big fight once that opportunity comes along, they may have come up far short.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica earned two points to my one from the Plant-Truax fight and cut my early season lead to 6-5.

Looking forward to two weeks from tonight to really get the boxing season out of the blocks with two very good cards from DAZN/Golden Boy and ESPN/Top Rank!