Caleb Plant Eyes Jermall Charlo Bout After Disappointing Loss To Armando Resendiz

Caleb Plant says he’ll fight Jermall Charlo next if it’s offered to him after his loss to Armando Resendiz (16-2, 11 KOs) on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) states that he has a rematch clause with Resendiz.

Plant’s record is now 2-3 in his last five fights, and fans are saying he’s “washed.” It’s hard to disagree. When a fighter loses three out of his previous five fights, it’s just obvious that they’re over the hill. Plant’s only two wins have come against bottom-rated career fringe contender Trevor McCumby and 39-year-old Anthony Dirrell.

Plant’s Ambivalent Rematch Stance

He says, “I’m more than willing to ruin it back” with him. The way Caleb said that, it sounded less than convincing, making it evident that he’s not excited about the idea of fighting Resendiz, 26, again after losing to him by a 12-round split decision at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

When a fighter is motivated to avenge their defeat, they don’t say, as Plant did, “I’m more than willing.” He’s wording it like he would be doing Resendiz a favor by fighting him again. That suggests Plant doesn’t want to fight him again and prefers to face Jermall Charlo next.

Plant lost his WBA interim super middleweight title, which was a trinket that he’d hoped to use to get a rematch with Canelo Alvarez as part of his ‘Revenge Tour’ narrative.

The scores

116-112: Resendiz115-113: Plant116-112: Resendiz

Plant Blames Injured Hand

After the fight, Plant claimed he’d been competing with an injured right hand. It sounded like he was using that as an excuse for his loss, which fans on social media found pathetic.

Plant says he thinks he deserved the victory. He states that he had himself up 5-1 after six rounds, which is the opposite of how fans saw it. Resendiz dominated the first half of the fight, getting the better of Plant in rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. The only round Caleb appeared to win was round 1, and that was because Resendiz didn’t throw many punches.

“I’d go right to the Charlo fight, but we got a rematch clause. I’m more than willing to run it right back,” said Caleb Plant at the post-fight press conference on Saturday night after his loss, sounding ambivalent about who he wants to fight next, between his conqueror, Armando Resendiz, or Jermall Charlo.

It sounds like Plant has already made up his mind that he wants to fight Jermall next, rather than a rematch with Resendiz. Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) did his part on Saturday night, scoring a sixth-round technical knockout of Thomas LaManna (39-6-1, 18 KOs).

“Yep, absolutely,” said Plant when asked if he’d be willing to go straight into a Jermall Charlo fight next if it’s offered to him. I’ll regroup with my team and see what’s next. I’m not easily discouraged.”

If you’re PBC, you can’t be too excited about the idea of putting on a fight between Plant and Jermall after what happened tonight. It’s not the ideal time to set up a fight between Plant and Charlo now.

“I feel like I was putting my jab on him, using the whole ring, and switching directions, working my jab up and down and using feints. I didn’t use my right hand as much as I wanted. It was kind of bothering me,” said Plant.

When fighters start blaming their hand for a loss, fans automatically suspect they’ve cooked up an excuse, and they don’t want to take responsibility for owning their loss. If Caleb wants fans to believe his hand excuse, he’s going to need a doctor’s note and some X-rays.

Plant’s Delusional Fight Claims

I feel like I won the first five of the six,” said Plant, sounding delusional. “I felt I could have pulled two out down the stretch along the way. That’s 7-5 right there. I feel like I did enough to win the fight 7-5, but the judges didn’t see it that way. Sometimes, that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

It didn’t look like Plant won. I had it 9-3 for Resendiz. It could have been even more one-sided than that.