Broadcast live on FOX, Premier Boxing Champions presented a world title fight tonight from Los Angeles. IBF world super middleweight champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) defended his title against Caleb “Golden” Truax (31-5-2, 19 KOs), who once held the very same belt.

 

Plant started out by going to the body often in the first. He fought at a relatively measured pace to start, but as the round continued he amped up the volume. The angles Plant used were absolutely beautiful—he nearly always ensured he could get off with whatever he wanted while keeping Truax from letting his hands go at all much of the time, much less throwing or landing what he wanted. And Plant’s defense was nearly impregnable, despite the fact that he was right there in the pocket the majority of the time.

 

Truax showed a ton of heart and, contrary to what some in the media say, he is a very good fighter. At 37, it’s going to be harder for him to execute his usual strategy of dogging his opponent, but that doesn’t mean he can’t. He had his moments tonight, but then in the fourth he got caught with a shot that seemed to break his nose; the blood gushed.

 

In the eighth, Plant moved into an overhand right from Truax that was by far the best punch of the fight from Truax. Upon examination, it was even more impressive because Truax tricked Plant with the shot. Truax showed Plant the left hook downstairs, and instead let the overhand right go. It was an illustration of Truax’s experience and intelligence.

 

For the next round or so, Truax knew he had something and caught Plant with a right hand a couple of times. In the 9th Plant held a couple of times to buy himself a little time.

 

But it wasn’t enough. In the end, Plant was just too good and too young for Truax to have any real success against. Plant outlanded Truax by a wide margin, and on my card Plant won every single round. The moments Truax had just weren’t quite enough to score a round for him.

 

There has been talk of Plant potentially landing a future unification fight with Canelo Alvarez, and this performance should serve Plant well to impress and show he’s worthy of that sort of bout. He did everything but stop Truax. Some people just aren’t going to get knocked out.

 

The official scorecards were unanimous and the same: 120-108 for Plant.

 

After the fight, Plant said he hurt his hand relatively early in the fight which may have made him a little hesitant at times; however, he felt he put on a great performance. When asked about the Canelo fight, Plant said, “My goal is to become the first undisputed super middleweight…whoever is in the way, we’ll do it right here on FOX.”

 

Plant continues to show he’s one of the most well-rounded, multi-dimensional fighters in the sport, and all in 21 fights. It’s exciting to watch him continue to grow in his craft. Hopefully he’ll soon get those unification fights that we all want to see.

 

Earlier, Michael Coffie (12-0, 9 KOs) took on Darmani Rock (17-1, 12 KOs) in a 10-round heavyweight bout. Coffie showed solid defense, moving his head and using his right hand near his chin to deflect jabs upstairs. In the third, Rock was crowding Coffie on the ropes, trying to lay his weight on Coffie, when the latter stepped back to create space and threw a terrific left uppercut that snapped Rock’s head around and dropped him.

 

Rock made the count, but not long afterward Coffie landed a left hook this time that landed just right and dropped Rock again. Referee Jack Reiss started the count, but waved it off at the count of 7, seeing that Rock was in no condition to continue.

 

The first fight on the broadcast featured middleweights Joey Spencer (12-0, 9 KOs) and Isiah Seldon (14-4-1, 5 KOs) in an 8-rounder. Spencer is a prospect on the rise, often looking fantastic at this stage of his career.

 

Spencer got right down to business: about a minute into round one, he caught Seldon with a quick check hook which prompted the latter to shake his head. Immediately afterward, Spencer threw a picture-perfect jab-right hand that landed on Seldon’s chin, spun him around and landed him face-first on the canvas. Amazingly, Seldon did make the count, but his legs were nearly gone.

 

Not long after the action continued, Spencer got turned around in a clinch and Seldon intentionally landed at least two rabbit punches before referee Jerry Cantu was able to step in. The ref did the right thing, deducting two points from Seldon for the intentional fouls.

 

Shortly thereafter, Spencer threw a right that landed on the side of Seldon’s head, but what was most impressive was how Spencer stepped around to his own right to avoid a counter. Seldon went down again. His legs were fully gone now, and the referee waved it off. It was an impressive performance by Spencer.