Photos: Caleb Plant Decks, Beats Jose Uzcategui To Claim IBF Belt

The challenger proved to be the aggressor as Caleb Plant became the IBF Super Middleweight World Champion, defeating Jose Uzcategui in the main event of the first Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes event of 2019, which took place at the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. Plant dominated the whole fight as he maintained a fast and aggressive pace from the opening bell. (photos Ryan Hafey, TGB)

With scores of 116-110 twice and 115-111 in favor of Plant, the freshly crowned champion, Plant fell to his knees overcome with emotion when he heard “and the new!”.

The super middleweight barnburner started out strong with both combatants throwing exchanges, but Plant did everything in his power to never back down. Uzcategui threw hard right hands to start the second round, but Plant quickly turned the round in his favor as he knocked Uzcategui to the canvas with a flurry of punches, only the third time Uzcategui had been knocked down in his career.

A small cut opened under the left eye of Uzcategui to start the third, but he fought through it and fended off Plant’s aggression. One minute into the fourth round, a cut opened up under Plant’s right eye causing blood to stream. That did not stop the Nashville native as threw a hard left hook that once again sent Uzcategui to the canvas.

As the fight progressed, the Venezuelan was unable to utilize his distance, thus allowing Plant to fight on the inside. Despite good exchanges in the seventh and eighth, it became increasingly clear that Uzcategui would need a knockout to hold onto his belt. Uzcategui flipped a switch in the championship rounds and came forward, throwing hard blows to the body and head of Plant. But it was too little too late for Uzcategui as Plant’s ring generalship controlled the pace of the fight, ultimately ending in a unanimous decision.