Caleb Plant, Jermall Charlo set for May 31 PBC on Prime doubleheader
Victories by heated rivals will pave way to showdown later in 2025
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For years there has been bad blood, bad words and even an altercation between Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo, making a fight between them inevitable.
Now the path to that spicy showdown is set as they will fight on the same card on May 31 (Prime Video, 8 p.m. ET) at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with the specific plan for them to meet later this year if they both are victorious, Premier Boxing Champions announced on Wednesday.
Plant will make his first defense of the WBA interim super middleweight belt against Armando Resendiz in the main event and Charlo will end an 18-month layoff against Thomas LaManna in the 10-round super middleweight co-feature.
“Two of the sport’s most supremely talented and outspoken fighters, Plant and Charlo will look for emphatic victories on May 31 to set up a 168-pound grudge match and settle their feud in the ring after years of call outs and a viral dust-up that nearly saw the championship fighters come to blows,” PBC hyped in the doubleheader announcement.
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Former IBF titleholder Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), 32, of Las Vegas, whose only losses were by 11th-round knockout to Canelo Alvarez in a unification fight for the undisputed title in 2021 and a decision loss to David Benavidez in a WBC interim title bout in 2023, is coming off a ninth-round knockout of Trevor McCumby to win the vacant WBA interim belt in September on the Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga undercard.
“I’ve been quietly grinding with my team since my last fight, and just like always,” Plant said. “I’ve left no stone unturned in my preparation. No setback and no amount of money or success can change the love I have for boxing or change my competitive spirit to be a winner. On May 31, I’m coming to put on a show and leave no doubt that I’m one of the best in the world.”
Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs), 26, of Mexico, notched his biggest win by 10th-round knockout of former unified junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd in a 2023 middleweight fight but lost his next bout by eighth-round knockout to then-unbeaten Elijah Garcia later that year. In his only fight since, Resendiz stopped novice pro Fernando Paliza in February.
“I’m very happy to have this opportunity,” Resendiz said. “I’m thankful to be in a great fight once again, this time against a former world champion in the main event of a stellar night of boxing. I know this is going to be a tough fight, but I will prepare as hard as I possibly can to win and dedicate this win to my beloved Mexico.”
Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs), 34, of Houston, a former junior middleweight and middleweight titleholder, has been extremely inactive, mostly due to a variety of personal and legal issues outside the ring.
He ended a 29-month layoff in November 2023 with a spirited but one-sided 10-round decision over the much smaller Jose Benavidez Jr. in a nontitle fight for which Charlo was 166.4 pounds — 3.4 over the contract weight and well over the division limit of 160. Charlo has not fought since.
In September 2024, after Charlo was charged with DWI and leaving the scene of a car accident, the WBC, which had allowed him to hold the middleweight belt despite going nearly three years without a defense because it said it was showing support as he dealt with numerous injury, mental health and legal problems, finally stripped him.
He had not defended since June 2021 and his issues caused him to pass on an offer to challenge Alvarez for the undisputed title in September 2023, an assignment that instead went to twin brother Jermell Charlo, then the undisputed junior middleweight champion, who moved up in weight and got routed.
Now, he is apparently ready to box again.
“I took the time to rebuild myself and I rebuilt my focus,” Charlo said. “I’m locked in with my team and I’m ready for this new chapter at super middleweight. The journey continues. I’m back in full effect and I can’t wait to show my fans what I’ve been working on.”
LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs), 33, of Belleville, New Jersey, who is more promoter than boxer these days, has won nine fights in a row against lesser opposition since Erislandy Lara drilled him in the first round of a 2021 middleweight title challenge.
“Facing a big name like Jermall Charlo is the kind of challenge I’ve been working for my whole life,” LaManna said. “A win against him isn’t just a victory for me, it’s life-changing for my family, a statement to the world, and proof that I belong among the best.”
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The most PBCish PBC card of the year! Terrible mismatches of minimal significance, at least one bullshit interim title on the line, suggestive of an eventual fight between winners that is hardly a certainty (nor much in demand), with rehashed losers on the b-side, woefully inactive headliners, with a 50/50 chance that one of the A-sides even cares to show up. The only thing more-PBC about this would be to put in on PPV for $80, but at least they've got the good sense to not try that.
Plant Charlo will be a good fight if it happens