Tokyo Olympics 2021

Caleb Truax

Plant-Truax Peaked At 2,019,000 Viewers; Most-Watched FOX Fight In 13 Months

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Viewers were interested in watching Caleb Plant fight Saturday night, even though he was a huge favorite over mandatory challenger Caleb Truax.

According to Nielsen Media Research numbers released Tuesday, an average of 1,887,000 viewers watched Plant convincingly out-box Truax in the main event of FOX’s tripleheader from Los Angeles. A peak audience of 2,019,000 tuned in toward the end of Plant’s dominant, 12-round win at Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall.

The viewership of Plant-Truax was the highest for a “FOX PBC Fight Night” telecast since December 2019. The main event that night – Jermell Charlo’s 11th-round knockout of Tony Harrison in their WBC 154-pound championship rematch – drew a peak audience of 2,233,000 and an average audience of 2,223,000.

Plant-Truax was the most-watched boxing match televised by FOX during the pandemic as well.

FOX’s entire three-bout broadcast attracted an average viewership of 1,608,000. That also marked the network’s highest average audience since it brought boxing back to its airwaves August 8, following a five-month hiatus due to COVID-19.

Plant’s previous appearance on FOX – a 10th-round stoppage of another mandatory challenger, Germany’s Vincent Feigenbutz (32-3, 28 KOs) – attracted a peak audience of 1,809,000 last February 15 from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. That entire three-fight show drew an average audience of 1,528,000.

The 28-year-old Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee, won every round on the scorecards of all three judges Saturday night (120-108, 120-108, 120-108). He entered their bout as at least a 50-1 favorite versus Truax (31-5-2, 19 KOs, 1 NC), a former IBF super middleweight champ from St. Michael, Minnesota.

In the co-feature Saturday night, Brooklyn-based heavyweight prospect Michael Coffie (12-0, 9 KOs) knocked down Philadelphia’s Darmani Rock (17-1, 12 KOs) twice in the third round, when their scheduled 10-rounder was stopped.

Joey Spencer (12-0, 9 KOs), a junior middleweight prospect from Linden, Michigan, knocked out Isiah Seldon (14-4-1, 5 KOs) in the first round of the fight that opened FOX’s telecast. Spencer dropped Seldon, of Somers Point, New Jersey, twice in the first round.

Three preliminary fights FOX televised earlier Saturday night drew an average viewership of 871,000 and a peak viewership of 1,221,000.

That thee-bout show was considered a separate telecast, though it immediately preceded the “FOX PBC Fight Night” tripleheader on the same network. PBC prelims usually air on FS1, FOX’s all-sports cable channel, on nights when FOX broadcasts boxing. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

Caleb Truax: Like First DeGale Fight, Plant Is Talking About Everybody But Me

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The last time Caleb Truax sensed that a heavily favored IBF super middleweight champion underestimated him, he pulled off perhaps boxing’s biggest upset of 2017.

Three years after defeating James DeGale in London, Truax, now 37, hopes to rejuvenate his career by knocking Caleb Plant out of position to land lucrative fights later this year. The unbeaten Plant is regularly listed as at least a 45-1 favorite to successfully defend his 168-pound crown against Truax on Saturday night in the main event of a FOX tripleheader from Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles (8 p.m. EST; 5 p.m. PST).

Truax (31-4-2, 19 KOs, 1 NC), of St. Michael, Minnesota, has heard and read enough about Plant positioning himself for a multimillion-dollar payday against Canelo Alvarez during the promotion of their fight to suspect Plant thinks he is in for an easy night. That, Truax promised, couldn’t be further from the truth.

Truax realizes that this very well could be his last title fight if he doesn’t upset Plant (20-0, 12 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee. Winning would earn Truax another payday that would help secure the financial futures of his 5-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son.

“I love it, man,” Truax told BoxingScene.com. “It’s similar to the DeGale fight, where he was talking about everybody but me. You know, fighting George Groves and David Benavidez and whoever, making all this money doing that. And I get the same vibe this time around from Plant, with all the talk about Canelo and David Benavidez. It’s like, ‘You’ve gotta fight me [Saturday night], bro. You better be concentrating on me, instead of counting your money that you’re trying to make in the future.’ I know I’m an underdog. I embrace that role. And if he is overlooking me, that’s gonna be his mistake. That’s for damn sure!”

The former IBF super middleweight champion lost his immediate rematch to DeGale by unanimous decision in April 2018. He is 2-0 since then, but he has been beleaguered by a nagging right Achilles injury that finally has healed and a deep, disgusting gash over his right eyebrow that rendered his IBF elimination match against Peter Quillin a no-contest after just the second round in April 2019.

An illness forced Truax to withdraw from another IBF eliminator against Alfredo Angulo on the day of their weigh-in five months ago. Angulo (26-8, 21 KOs) lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Truax’s late replacement, Vladimir Hernandez (12-4, 6 KOs), on August 29 at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Truax, who is ranked third by the IBF, has since been declared Plant’s mandatory challenger. 

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

Caleb Plant: I’m The Big Dog at 168 – I’m Not Chasing Nobody!

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Some people believe Caleb Plant is the real deal.

Others not so much.

But it doesn’t much matter to the Tennessee-born super middleweight either way.

He’s got enough belief for all y’all.

“I’ll be here for a long time,” he told Boxing Scene. “I’m not chasing nobody. I’m the champion. I’m the world champion. I’m the big dog at 168 pounds.

“So I’m not going to see anybody, they’ve got to come see me.”

Now 28 years old and two defenses into his reign as the IBF’s standard-bearer, Plant returns to the ring Saturday night in Los Angeles after fighting just once in the dumpster fire that was 2020.

Upon arrival he’ll see Caleb Truax, the rugged Minnesotan who held the same belt for four months during a two-fight series with James DeGale. He beat DeGale by majority decision in England in December 2017, then lost to him on a narrow unanimous nod in Las Vegas in April 2018.

The Plant-Truax fight will top a three-bout card to be broadcast by Fox at 8 p.m. ET.

DeGale relinquished the belt without a defense and the IBF awarded it to Jose Uzcategui, whom Plant beat by unanimous decision to earn championship status in January 2019. Stoppages of Mike Lee (TKO 3) and Vincent Feigenbutz (TKO 10) followed within 13 months, before the sports world went dark.

Still, while other fighters have had routines disrupted beyond recognition, Plant has thrived.

“I can honestly say this is one of my best camps,” he said on a Thursday conference call.

“I’ve had great sparring. I haven’t had any restrictions as far as COVID-19 goes when it comes to sparring partners or strength and conditioning or being in the gym. So I’ve been really focused on what I need to do and I’m just ready to go in there and handle business.”

Lest anyone forget, Plant’s pre-title back story was particularly harrowing.

He grew up in rural poverty, endured homelessness as an adult and suffered the ultimate nightmare when his 19-month-old daughter succumbed to a rare illness.

He dedicated the championship-winning bout to the late toddler, slept with an image of the IBF belt on the ceiling above his bed and promised he’d bring the real thing back to her grave site as champion.

That inhuman drive to endure, he told Boxing Scene, stemmed from the mettle forged by tragedy.

“I buried her one Thursday and I was back in the gym the next Thursday,” Plant said.

“Even throughout my workouts it was hard to keep my emotions in. I was tearing up and crying. But I’m a man and it’s my job, no matter what’s tossed at me through life, to continue on. I still have a job to do and I still have responsibilities. It’s my job as a man to take care of those responsibilities. On top of that I knew that that’s what she would want me to do. So I don’t fold, break, or bend for nobody.

“It’s definitely made me a tougher man. I’ve been through things that people don’t even have nightmares about and I came out the other side. I’m stronger for it. I’m better for it. It happened in my life for a reason and I carry Alia with me everywhere I go and I always will. I’m just happy to keep my promise that I made to her. I knew I would, but I’m just happy that I finally brought it to fruition.”

A memorable “Sweethands” nickname, coupled with a TV-friendly ring style and a comfortable charisma – not to mention two successful title defenses – have elevated Plant’s brand to the point where, assuming he gets past Truax, he’ll be on a short list of desirable foes for the division’s golden goose.

Pay-per-view stalwart Canelo Alvarez holds both the WBA and WBC titles after a one-sided defeat of Callum Smith last month and he’s ranked No. 1 or close to it on most pound-for-pound lists. He’s expected to steamroll Avni Yildirim in a mandatory defense next month in Miami and, should a trilogy fight with Gennady Golovkin not materialize, Plant’s chances to share the marquee will increase.

The camps were discussing a bout before Alvarez went after Smith, and Bleacher Report’s Kelsey McCarson gave Plant top billing among the 168-pounders in terms of who Canelo should fight next.

Alvarez is also the Ring Magazine champ at super middle, with Plant ranked second among contenders.

So, while Plant didn’t say his name, it’s no secret he’ll be on the Tennessean’s mind come Sunday.

“I’m still far from where I want to be,” Plant said.

“I’m still far from everything I want to accomplish and to keep that hunger, that motivation, you have to be honest with yourself about who you are and where you’re at.

“I know where I’m at in my career and how much farther I want to go so it’s no time for me to let my foot off the gas. I need to keep my foot on their necks and I need to keep pushing because, as I’ve said, I’m looking to become the first undisputed world super middleweight champion of all time and you can’t do that with just one world title.”

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

IBF super middleweight title – Los Angeles, Calif.
Caleb Plant (champion/No. 7 IWBR) vs. Caleb Truax (No. 3 IBF/No. 15 IWBR)
Plant (20-0, 12 KO): Third title defense; TKOs in two title defenses after five straight decision wins
Truax (31-4-2, 19 KO): Fourth title fight (1-2); Held IBF title at 168 pounds (2017-18, zero defenses)
Fitzbitz says: I’ll rely on historians for confirmation, but I’ve got to think this is the first title fight matching guys named Caleb. I’m a big fan of the one surnamed Plant. He’ll win big. Plant in 9 (95/5)

This week’s trash title-fight schedule:

WBA heavyweight title – Hollywood, Fla.
Manuel Charr (champion/No. 41 IWBR) vs. Trevor Bryan (No. 1 WBA/No. 55 IWBR)
Why it’s trash: Well, there’s the usual WBA nonsense. Charr has a championship belt with zero worthwhile wins. Bryan is somehow a No. 1 contender with an equally balky resume. But the fact that they’re held up as elite in a division with so many other better fighters is even more ridiculous.

WBA cruiserweight title – Hollywood, Fla.
Beibut Shumenov (champion/Unranked IWBR) vs. Raphael Murphy (No. 8 WBA/Unranked IWBR)
Why it’s trash: Yep, it’s the WBA again. Perhaps they’re having a convention this weekend on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. Anyway, we have Shumenov carrying the second of four tiers of belts in this division, though he’s not done anything of note since losing to a 49-year-old Bernard Hopkins in 2014. Yuck.

Last week’s picks: 1-0 (WIN: Fulton)
2021 picks record: 1-0 (100 percent)
Final 2020 picks record: 39-10 (79.6 percent)
Overall picks record: 1,157-375 (75.5 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body’s full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA “world championships” are only included if no “super champion” exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.