Why Fox is paying for the mediocre offerings that PBC has been giving them and why PBC isn't taking advantage of the network television stage that Fox offers are questions that need to be answered and Saturday's card is yet another card of mismatches and dull pairings that will be hard to keep hardcore boxing fans, let alone casual watchers.
The main event pits the latest in IBF Super Middleweight champion Caleb Plant's soft-touch tour as Plant defends former IBF champion Caleb Truax in a fight that may be noted best for being the first title fight between two fighters named Caleb- that's the best I have.
Don't be deceived by Truax's former champion status as he won the title against a badly faded James DeGale, lost a rematch to the same DeGale in 2018, and since then has only two wins over non-entities and a no-contest against Peter Quillin.
Combine with those facts that Truax's win over DeGale is the only one over top ten competition in his career, he's thirty-seven to boot, and that gives you another undeserving title challenger and another undistinguished name to face Plant.
I've been critical of Plant, mainly because of the awful competition that he's faced in his career, not for his talent.
Plant has quick hands, is technically skilled with a solid amateur background, and while he isn't a huge puncher, his power is solid enough to be a legitimate contender, but we don't really know that for sure.
Why should a champion entering his third title defense have so many questions?
Well, it's because he has only one victory over a top ten level fighter (his title win over Jose Uzcategui) and only two if you consider anyone that once was at that level (Uzcategui and a washed-up Porky Medina) and he didn't stop either fighter.
Then consider in his title victory against Uzcategui, Plant was blatantly stalling down the stretch (I thought Phil Ford tossing the ball and forth to John Kuester for five minutes was more exciting than the final five rounds) in losing the final five rounds on my scorecard and despite his win (I scored it 115-111 as Plant did score two knockdowns), questions remain about Plant's ability to go twelve rounds against strong competition.
With all of that involved and another likely virtual walkover against Truax, Caleb Plant will likely face Canelo Alvarez in the fall with all four super-middleweight titles at stake after Canelo (WBA and WBC champion) unifies the WBO title with a scheduled May fight against current champion Billy Joe Saunders.
Plant will be paid millions of dollars for a pay-per-view against Canelo Alvarez and he's going to have one win over a top-ten opponent that was in their prime.
I'll have no fewer answers about Caleb Plant after the battle of the Caleb's than I do now, but Plant certainly isn't challenging himself and he certainly isn't preparing himself for facing the arguably the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
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