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Trevor McCumby predicts Caleb Plant knockout tonight

Trevor McCumby predicts a knockout victory over Caleb Plant tonight in their fight for the WBA interim super middleweight title in Las Vegas.

(Photo credit: Ryan Hafey & Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)

The undefeated McCumby (28-0, 21 KOs) knows what to expect when he fights the more experienced former IBF middleweight (168 pounds) champion Plant (22-2, 13 KOs). He must stay focused for the first six rounds, when Plant is at his best and a nightmare for almost anyone.

McCumby says he wants to beat up Plant, force him into the ropes and give him some solid punches. Plant gets stressed when he sees his own blood and he doesn't fight well under those circumstances. He panics and becomes weak as a battery.

“It's going to be huge. I don't think anyone likes him here,” Trevor McCumby said of Caleb Plant. “I'm going to take him down and put him on his knees,” McCumby said when asked how he plans to beat Plant. “Fireworks, and I'll raise my hand.”

Fans don't like the idea of ​​Plant taking a long 18-month break, picking McCumby as his opponent and talking about his hopes for a rematch with Canelo Alvarez. Plant has lost two of his last three fights and would have to do a lot more than just beat McCumby to get a rematch with Canelo.

If Plant were to be chosen by Canelo for a lucrative second fight, he would walk into it with a 2-2 record in his last four fights. That's not good enough to face King Canelo. If Plant wants a rematch, he'll have to do more than just beat McCumby.

“A lot of people don't know me. Those who do know know what's going on, but a lot of people don't know me. There's not a lot of footage of me,” McCumby told Fighthype. “Even in the footage you can find, you see a lot of fights from my earlier career. I'm a totally different fighter now.”

Fans who were curious enough to watch highlights of his last fight against Christopher Pearson on January 31st saw a lot of weaknesses in that fight. McCumby's striking is top-notch, much better than Plant's, but his defense leaves a lot to be desired. That must be why Plant chose him.

“It's not going to affect how I fight. That's the only thing I want Caleb to know. His posts about me, I'm flattered. Him posting about me everywhere is so cool. I appreciate it. It hit me a little bit,” McCumby said. “He's trying to discredit my amateur career, he's trying to discredit me as a man, he's claiming I'm lying about things.”

Plant has been disparaging McCumby throughout the lead-up to the fight, which is kind of weird because fans have no idea who he is anyway.

When you fight an unknown that you handpicked, like Plant did with McCumby, you have to build him up because fans will naturally see the fight for what it is: a cherry-pick. Plant didn't do that. He downgraded McCumby, which made fans feel like this was just another of Plant's handpicked opponents, like the ones he picked for his record.

Plant should have chosen a more well-known guy to get fans interested in his fight and to give him credit when he wins. If Plant had chosen David Morrell, David Benavidez, Christian Mbilli, Osleys Iglesias or Diego Pacheco, fans would be excited about the fight.

“That motivates me a little bit. I want to finish this guy. Yeah, that's pretty safe to say,” McCumby said when asked if he wanted to beat Plant by knockout. “I want to finish him, really finish him.”

McCumby needs to knock Plant out as he is the B-side in this fight and if it is even close tonight he will likely not make the judges' score. Plant is well known for his fights with Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez.

It doesn't matter that he was knocked out in both fights, his name is still there, which could be bad news for McCumby if he fails to knock him out.

“His experience. He's dangerous in the early rounds. So I've got to keep a clear head and make sure I use my feints,” McCumby said of what he has to worry about against Plant. “Use a lot of feints. I've got to hit him in the chest and just do what I do,” McCumby said.

Plant's experience is minimal. He has only fought two world-class fighters, Canelo Alvarez and David Benavidez, and he lost to both of them.

Apart from these fighters, Plant scored his best wins against these Ham & Eggers: Vincent Feigenbutz, Mike Lee, Anthony Dirrell [38 years old]and Jose Uzcategui. Plant's other opponents were lower-class fighters who were not ranked in the top 15. Plant has experience, but not the kind of experience one would like to see.

“I just want big fights. At this point in my career, I want to be tested and I want to have a great competition. This is a wonderful sport. There are a lot of guys who don't fight enough or don't have big fights. I'm ready to have big fights at 168. I can see myself moving up to 175. I've fought a lot at 175 during my career, so I could move up again,” McCumby said.

It would not be a good idea for McCumby to move up to 175 pounds because he is too easily hit and does not have the size or chin to keep up with fighters in that weight class. Christopher Pearson injured McCumby in their fight on January 31 of this year, and he is neither a big puncher nor a top fighter.

“I'd like to look a little bit forward at super middleweight and then move up. I think that would be a great fight. We both fought about ten years ago. It was great. Oh yeah,” McCumby said when asked if his sparring with David Benavidez was competitive. “A lot of people there were like, 'I would have paid PPV for that.' It was real.”

David Benavidez is not going to fight McCumby. The guy is 175 pounds, trying to reinvent himself, and not looking good doing it. Unless he's in trouble, he's not going to take on McCumby, especially if he stays at 168 pounds instead of moving up to 175.

“Him and I would be a great fight. I would love that fight. Tune in. We're definitely going to steal the show,” McCumby said of his fight tonight against Caleb Plant.

It won't be difficult for Plant-McCumby to steal the show tonight, as the main event between Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga is considered an unequal duel, just like his 2021 fight against his old sparring partner Avni Yildirim, whom he knocked out in three rounds.

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