Caleb Plant brings back the iconic gravedigger cheer after taunting his opponent throughout the fight and then knocking him out

Caleb Plant survived an early scare to stop Trevor McCumby in the ninth round before bringing back his famous celebration.

McCumby came into the fight as a relative unknown.

Plant was out of luck early on, but recovered wellPhoto credit: getty

The 31-year-old had never fought anyone anywhere near Plant's level in the pros and despite having an impressive amateur career that included seven national titles, few believed he had a real chance against the former IBF super middleweight champion.

The first game was cautious from the start, but in the second, McCumby immediately got to work and proved that he deserved his chance to join the elite of the division.

McCumby landed several left hooks in the second period, including one at the end of the round that really shook Plant.

“Sweethands” landed near the ropes and the referee ruled it a slip, but when Plant got back to his feet, he seemed to be on shaky legs.

Plant got going better in the third round and managed a nice counter with his right hand, but a sweeping left hook to the body in the fourth round sent the technician from Tennessee to the mat.

This time it was counted as a surcharge.

After taking another hard hit early in the fifth round, Plant attempted to choke McCumby at close range.

It turned out to be the right adjustment, as McCumby looked very uncomfortable with his back on the ropes.

Halfway through, Plant's confidence was at an all-time high as he taunted and landed at will.

By the ninth round, McCumby's body language had changed significantly and Plant surrounded his opponent, pinning him against the ropes while the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

At the end of the show, Plant delivered his gravedigger cheer that became famous after his brutal KO victory over Anthony Dirrell in 2022.

With this victory, Plant becomes the WBA's “interim” champion and is now the main sanctioning body's top contender to face the winner of Canelo Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga in the main event of the evening.

Canelo stopped Plant in the eleventh round in November 2021 to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion of the four-belt era.

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However, he was stripped of his IBF title after he decided to fight Berlanga rather than mandatory challenger William Scull.

For this reason, the IBF has scheduled a vacant world championship fight between Skull and Vladimir Shishkin, while Canelo and Berlanga will fight for three of the four major world titles.