Notebook: Plant routs Truax, looks ahead to possible showdown vs. Canelo

Next PBC on Fox card announced; big Australian fight set

Caleb Plant retained his super middleweight world title with a shutout decision over former titlist and mandatory challenger Caleb Truax on Saturday night, winning 120-108 on all three scorecards.

They met in the main event of the Premier Boxing Champions on Fox card at the spectator-free Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles and Plant won every round despite injuring his left hand early in the bout. The win set him up for the fight he wants – a potential undisputed 168-pound title fight late this year or perhaps in early 2022 against unified champion Canelo Alvarez.

I covered the Plant-Truax card for The Ring magazine website. Please read my main event story here: https://www.ringtv.com/617153-caleb-plant-shuts-out-caleb-truax-and-looks-ahead-to-possible-canelo-showdown/

I also wrote a story on the undercard, on which heavyweight Michael Coffie, a seemingly late bloomer at age 34, scored his most impressive victory as he destroyed former amateur standout Darmani Rock in the third round of a fight between unbeaten big men. Please read my story on that fight and other televised bouts here: https://www.ringtv.com/617149-heavyweight-coffie-too-strong-for-rock-gets-stoppage-on-fox-undercard/

Next PBC on Fox main event

During Saturday night’s Plant-Truax telecast, Fox announced its next PBC card, which will take place on Feb. 27 in Los Angeles. It will be headlined by former two-time super middleweight world titlist Anthony Dirrell against Kyrone Davis in a fight that likely will attract little attention.

The reason: It will be up against Canelo Alvarez’s next fight. Boxing’s pound-for-pound king and biggest star will defend his unified super middleweight title against Avni Yildirim that night in Miami.

Dirrell (33-2-1, 24 KOs), 36, of Flint, Michigan, has not fought since he got knocked out in the ninth round and lost the WBC 168-pound title to David Benavidez in September 2019 on the Errol Spence Jr.-Shawn Porter undercard.

Davis (15-2, 6 KOs), 26, of Wilmington, Delaware, whose last fight was in January 2020, has won two fights in a row against low-level opponents since he lost a 10-round unanimous decision to the late Patrick Day in March 2018 on the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz I undercard.

Also announced for the card were two of PBC’s top prospects: junior welterweight Jesus Ramos (14-0, 13 KOs), 19, of Casa Grande, Arizona, and welterweight Vito Mielnicki Jr. (7-0, 4 KOs), 18, of Roseland, New Jersey.

Big Australian fight set

Junior middleweight Tim Tszyu, Australia’s No. 1 current fighter and the son of Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu, will be back in action to face Ireland-born, Australian-based Dennis Hogan on March 31 at an Australian site to be announced.

Tszyu (17-0, 13 KOs), 26, is on the doorstep of a shot at a world title. In his last fight, in December, he blitzed New Zealand’s Bowyn Morgan in the first round. In the fight before that he brutally beat down former welterweight titlist and countryman Jeff Horn for an eighth-round knockout.

Hogan (28-3-1, 7 KOs), 35, has lost his past two fights, both world title bouts. Jaime Munguia got a controversial decision over Hogan to retain his junior middleweight belt in April 2019 and Jermall Charlo knocked Hogan out in the seventh round to retain his middleweight belt in December 2019.

The fighters announced the bout on social media.

“It’s on!! Tim Tszyu back where he belongs,” Tszyu wrote. “In the ring taking care of business. Join us on our journey to the top. No Shortcuts.”

Hogan’s message read, “It's on. March 31st. Tszyu didn't choose me, I chose him! I told my team get me this fight and they delivered. I said yes right away when the fight was offered to me. I don't think they expected me to say yes.”

Bryan KO’s Stiverne

Trevor Bryan knocked out former heavyweight titlist Bermane Stiverne in the 11th round to win the WBA’s vacant secondary heavyweight belt on Friday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

The bout headlined a pay-per-view that included three live bouts and three other clssic bouts from promoter Don King’s library. It was the first card King has promoted on his own in several years, although he was not present as a precaution against Covid-19, given that he is 89.

After many questions about whether the show would actually happen, Bryan and Stiverne put on a decent scrap.

Bryan (21-0, 15 KOs), 31, of Schenectady, New York, dropped Stiverne (25-5-1, 21 KOs), 42, of Las Vegas, twice with right hands in the 11th round. When he went down for the second time, referee Frank Gentile waved it off at 1 minute, 26 seconds.

The loss was the inactive Stiverne’s third in a row, all by knockout, including a first-round destruction in a world title fight in his rematch with Deontay Wilder in November 2017 and a sixth-round stoppage against Joe Joyce in February 2019.

Prior to the bout, Germany’s Mahmoud Charr was stripped of the belt because he was unable to get the proper visa for the long overdue mandatory fight. He was made a titleholder “in recess.” Bryan, who had not fought since winning the vacant interim belt in August 2018, was mandated to face Charr within 120 days.

Show and tell

Boxing card collectors in the 1980s and 1990s had very few options other than the limited Brown’s Boxing sets to fill the void. They came as a complete set and contained many key rookie cards and stars of the time. By far the most notable set was produced in 1997 because it contains the very popular and valuable Floyd Mayweather rookie, which came out soon after his appearance in the 1996 Olympics. Sure, I have the set, but I also have this extremely cool and rare uncut sheet of all 88 cards. Mayweather’s rookie is located in the middle of the bottom row. The set also includes stars such as Riddick Bowe, Hector Camacho, Roberto Duran, Arturo Gatti, Naseem Hamed, Roy Jones Jr., Lennox Lewis, Erik Morales, Johnny Tapia and many others.

Plant-Truax photo: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions