Plant On Dirrell-Davis: Wasn't Surprised At Result, Anthony's Mouth Is Bigger Than His Fighting Skills

There were many observers surprised both by the verdict in the recent super middleweight title eliminator between Anthony Dirrell and Kyrone Davis and the fact that it came down to sweating out the final scorecards.

Caleb Plant was not among those particularly caught off guard by either scenario—so much that the unbeaten super middleweight titlist didn’t even bother to watch the event in real time.

“I wasn’t surprised at the result,” Plant told BoxingScene,com of the Feb. 27 bout between Dirrell and Davis. “I’ve always felt that Anthony’s mouth is bigger than his fighting skills. He’s a two-time world champion but each time he lost his title in the first defense.

“He did have a lot to say about me and then to not even get in there with a (true) 168-pounder and let him land almost as much punches as he did, yeah that ain’t it.”

Dirrell (33-2-2, 24KOs) was a considerable favorite heading into the Fox-televised main event, which served as a semifinal eliminator for the WBC super middleweight belt. There was a case to have been made for Dirrell—a former two-time WBC titlist—deserving the verdict over Davis (15-2-1, 6KOs), who moved up from middleweight and was able to make the fight far more competitive than most expected to be the case.

Because of the draw verdict, neither fighter is provided a clearer path towards the winner of this weekend’s other WBC title eliminator between David Benavidez (23-0, 20KOs) and Ronald Ellis (18-1-2, 12KOs). Dirrell was particularly interested in traveling that route, instead setting his sights on Plant’s IBF super middleweight title.

Plant very clearly has bigger game to hunt. The unbeaten Tennessee native—who now lives and trains in Las Vegas—is eyeing an undisputed championship clash with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez later this year. The prospects of such a fight are realistic enough to where Plant’s attention on Feb. 27 went towards Alvarez’s eventual 3rd round knockout of Avni Yildirim on DAZN over the PBC telecast on Fox featuring Dirrell.

Plant will remain an interested observer of Alvarez’s three belt showdown with WBO titlist Billy Joe Saunders (30-0, 14KOs) on May 8. Not particularly on his mind is a title defense versus Dirrell, no matter how much the 36-year old former champ calls for the fight.

“Right now, I don’t really… I would destroy Anthony Dirrell and he knows it, too,” insists Plant. “But right now, I’m just fully focused on Canelo. He’s looking to become undisputed. I’ve been saying that I’m looking to become undisputed. I’ve been saying that I wanted the Canelo fight. Hopefully we can get in there soon and make it happen.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox