Caleb Plant is never at a loss to find an enemy in the super middleweight division.
It’s never personal, though he questions whether it’s the case for Anthony Dirrell.
The buildup to the battle of former super middleweight titleholders has been nothing short of contentious. It’s par for the course for both fighters, though Plant detects a pattern from his upcoming opponent.
“I definitely feel there’s a lot of jealousy there,” Plant told BoxingScene.com and other reporters during a Zoom conference call to discuss their upcoming WBC title eliminator. “He can get mad, he can hate me and feel however he wants. He’s not a bully. He likes to act like a bully but sells a lot of wolf tickets.
“I don’t care give a fuck about where he’s from or what he says. He and his team have been barking, they’ve been doing that for the last seven years and still not where they want to be. That don’t mean nothing to me.”
Plant-Dirrell takes place on October 15 as part of a Fox Sports Pay-Per-View event from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The bout serves as the chief support to the Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius WBC heavyweight semifinal title eliminator.
Plant and Dirrell both return following a 49-week layoff, having appeared in separate bouts on the same show last November 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Plant (21-1, 12KOs) suffered his lone career defeat, as he was knocked out by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in the eleventh round of their undisputed super middleweight championship atop a Showtime Pay-Per-View. The co-feature saw Dirrell (34-2-2, 25KOs) earn a fourth-round knockout of fringe contender Marcos Hernandez, who moved up in weight. The win was the first for Dirrell since becoming a two-time titlist in a technical decision win over Avni Yildirim in February 2019 to regain the WBC super middleweight title.
Wedged in between were a stoppage loss to David Benavidez (26-0, 23KOs) and a disappointing twelve-round draw with middleweight Kyrone Davis, who moved up in weight for their February 2021 semifinal eliminator.
During that same time span, Plant claimed the IBF super middleweight title and made three defenses. Dirrell twice lost the WBC belt in his first title defense during both reigns.
While there was never a clear shot at a title unification bout, Plant and Dirrell have not hesitated to take shots at one another over the years. The two had plenty to say once their fight was finally signed, exchanging harsh words during the announcement presser in Brooklyn. Both insist that it was just shop talk, though Dirrell has a deeper history of expressing his disdain for Plant.
“I really don’t feel no type of way about him. He can say what he wants to say,” insists Plant. “He sells a lot of wolf tickets and barks a whole lot. But his bite ain’t near what his bark is. His whole team, the same dudes have been barking alongside him for the last seven years but he’s never had one successful title defense.
“In his last fight, he knocked out Marcos Hernandez… a blown-up middleweight who was getting stopped at 154 pounds. If you’re getting stopped at 154 pounds… you know. We’re not even in the same galaxy with (Hernandez). He had a draw with Kyrone (Davis)—who’s a good fighter but fights at middleweight—in the fight before that. The list goes on and on. He barks a lot and yells a lot. But when was the last time he beat a super middleweight?”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
