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!

Boxing Challenge: Derevyanchenko slips Culcay

Minneapolis isn't known as a huge boxing town, but the PBC has been running cards more often in the northern city and the two main events were not only boxing challenge bouts, but more importantly- two title eliminators brought to you by the IBF and the people that might have the fairest manner of determining their mandatory challenge and yet consistently seems to have the worst mandatory contenders.

The bout that actually was completed saw Sergiy Dereyvanchenko defeat Jack Culcay by a close and unanimous decision to become the IBF's mandatory contender to the winner of the May 4th unification match between Canelo Alvarez and Daniel Jacobs.
Jacobs currently holds the IBF title after winning the vacant championship via split decision over Dereyvanchenko but is an underdog against Alvarez for their fight.
The rugged Dereyvanchenko was expected to walk down and wear down the naturally smaller Culcay, who has spent most of his career at junior middleweight, but it was Culcay that was rallying later in the fight and staggered Derevyvanchenko in the tenth, almost knocking him down and pulled even on my card after ten rounds.
That was all Culcay seemed to have left as it was then Derevyanchenko winning the final two rounds, the twelfth by a sizable margin to win 115-113 on my card.
Derevyanchenko will give anyone a rugged fight and against the right fighter on the right night could pull an upset, while Culcay continues a run of coming very close in surprisingly entertaining fights and losing close decisions (Demetrius Andrade, Maciej Sulecki, and Dereyvanchenko) in them.

The main event was supposed to determine who would become the IBF's mandatory contender to their super middleweight champion Caleb Plant with former IBF champion Caleb Truax (PBC owns the market of super middleweight Caleb's) battling former WBO middleweight titleholder Peter Quillin.
The battle of the Caleb's or Plant-Quillin will have to wait as a clash of heads in round two opened a deep cut over Truax's eye/nose that forced a no-contest.
I suppose there could be a rematch, Plant could make an optional defense or the IBF could make their current highest rated contender Germany's Vincent Feigenbutz the mandatory contender for Plant, but when it comes to sanctioning bodies, trying to figure them out can be maddening.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica earned two points for Sergiy Dereyvanchenko's victory to my one and shaved a point off my lead.
My current lead is 79-71.

Boxing Challenge: Hurd takes down Lara!!

Photo Credit;Stephanie Trapp-Showtime Sports

While I was off in the Blue Grass State (more on the first trip of the year over the next few days), Showtime held an interesting three-fight telecast from Las Vegas with the main event being a title unification fight that would have major repercussions in the junior middleweight division.
In an unrelated note-this is the 4,000th post on this blog.
I'm amazed sometimes with just how much I've written about here.

Editor's Note:It turns out this is 3,995-Five posts that I've been working on, but haven't published were counted by Blogger.
I'll make the 4,000th later this week.

In the main event, Jarrett Hurd knocked Erislandy Lara down with seconds remaining in the fight and that knockdown was the difference on the scorecards as Hurd retained his IBF junior middleweight title and took Lara's WBA title for his own via a split decision.
The three scorecards all read 114-113 (two for Hurd and one for Lara), so without that knockdown, as the sun went down in the bout, both men would have retained their titles, but the result would have been a majority decision draw.
One has to love Jarrett Hurd, who is always aggressive and outworks his opponent, but unlike many fighters who win fights by accumulation, but rarely sit down on their shots and as result often fail to hurt the opposing fighter, Hurd has good power and when you look at that with the number of punches that he throws, Hurd's style makes him a very tough fighter to win a decision against.
Hurd's style makes fighters have to stand and fight far more often than they would like to and it usually is to their detriment.
That was the case in this one as Jarrett Hurd simply did not allow Erislandy Lara to move away, he forced Lara to engage and deliver a fun fight from a fighter that is often dull to watch.
Give Lara credit for a fine effort that was not in his usual style and dealt with an almost closed right eye, but I thought Hurd won a clear 115-112 decision (7-5 and a Hurd knockdown).
Hurd will likely fight Jermell Charlo in another unification fight next, the winner will hold three of the four titles after that bout.
Lara will likely fight a stay-busy bout and await that winner as this fight likely enhanced Lara more than hurt him.

As far Jermell Charlo, for all the talent that he has, his spectacular KO of Erickson Lubin ( who came into the fight with a questionable chin, I did pick Lubin though) and punching power, I found it interesting that a fighter without a win against a top-five fighter (Lubin and Vanes Martirosyan are his best wins) commented that it was Hurd preferring Lara to Charlo as an opponent before this fight.
I'm dubious of that claim, I doubt Hurd has that kind of pull (at least not yet) and with Charlo's lack of an opponent for a scheduled defense in June (bet on either a soft touch or a shopworn veteran name), I really have my doubts.
The Charlo brothers really have made their names off one (each) spectacular knockout over a talented, but untested opponent (Julian Williams for Jermall, the aforementioned Erickson Lubin for Jermell) and a large amount of social media for their hype.
Both fighters hit hard and are talented, I'm anxious to see what happens when someone fights back.

The semi-final saw James DeGale win back the IBF super middleweight title that he lost to Caleb Truax via a close unanimous decision. DeGale was badly cut in the third round but showed toughness in fighting his way through the cut.
Truax was busted around the eyes as well and marched forward throughout in a fight that just seemed to be always awkward through 24 rounds with two styles that didn't mesh well with each other as far as action and clean punches go.
I scored DeGale a 114-113 winner (7-5 minus a point deduction on DeGale in the late rounds).
DeGale will likely wish for unification with the World Boxing Super Series winner and WBA champion of the George Groves-Callum Smith fight, but he should have to get by the IBF interim champion Jose Uzcategui next.
As impressive as Uzcategui was in pounding Andre Dirrell and with DeGale looking like a faded version of himself since his draw with Badou Jack, I would rate Uzcategui a solid favorite to derail DeGale before a unification fight.
Truax will more than likely go back to his previous role as a trialhorse for the PBC's prospects and up and coming contenders with a little more prestige now as a former champion.

In the opener, Julian Williams won a majority decision over Nathaniel Gallimore to earn the IBF's mandatory position for Jarrett Hurd.
I'm amazed that someone saw this even as I thought Williams won 117-111 and didn't lose a round over the second half of the fight.
I was a big advocate of Williams before his only loss to Jermall Charlo (I picked him to win), but he still doesn't seem to be completely back from that loss.
No knockdowns in this, although Williams had Gallimore badly hurt in the eleventh, but could not finish the game.
I'm still not quite ready to quit on Williams, but he still has plenty to prove after looking good, not great.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica each earned three points on the night-two from James DeGale and one from Julian Williams.
I lead the challenge 59-46.

Boxing Challenge:Horn stops Corcoran

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Boxing Challenge continued from Australia as Jeff Horn defended his WBO welterweight title with an eleventh round stoppage of unheralded Gary Corcoran of England.
Horn was way ahead on my card and the win not only retained his title, but likely earned him a healthy purse in his next fight and the right and the right to try to take out one of the best fighters in the world in Terence Crawford.

In other weekend fights that I hadn't seen of last writing.

The upset of the weekend saw journeyman Caleb Truax upset IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale via majority decision in London.
DeGale dominated the first two rounds and looked like he thought he would blow through Truax early and gassed himself out.
I had Truax a 115-113 winner.

Lee Selby retained his IBF featherweight title on that card via a unanimous decision over Eduardo Ramirez in a workmanlike victory.
I scored Selby a 117-111 winner.
Selby will face mandatory countryman Josh Warrington in his next defense.

On the Salido-Roman undercard, Rene Alvarado scored a minor upset with a narrow split decision over Denis Shafikov.
I scored the fight a draw at 95-95.

Boxing Challenge points to:

Ramon Malpica:2 pts, 1 each for wins for Jeff Horn and Rene Alvarado
TRS: 4 pts, 2 pts for Jeff Horn win/KO and 2 pts for Lee Selby win/decision

Current Standings192-173