Caleb Plant secured the biggest win of his career after a 12-round war against Jose Uzcategui.
In the first Premier Boxing Champions card of 2019, Plant survived a late rally by Uzcategui to win the IBF super middleweight title, his first world championship. Plant won the fight by unanimous decision (116-110, 116-110, 115-111) in the main event from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Plant started the fight by turning the first five rounds into a one-sided beatdown. The challenger opened things up with several big combinations in the first round, overpowering Uzcategui. Plant would score the first of two knockdowns in the fight thanks to a vicious left hook. Uzcategui was slow to get back up, but was good to continue the fight.
.@SweetHandsPlant got jokes at the end of the first --. pic.twitter.com/GQZCY2dYCn
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) January 14, 2019
The 26-year-old Plant continued to dominate the fight, getting a second knockdown when he dropped Uzcategui with another left hook. After the fifth round, it seemed like Plant was going to cruise to a victory. But Uzcategui caught his second wind and started to string together punches, landing his own left hook to Plant, who appeared to tire out a little bit. Both men would go on to battle back-and-forth in the second half of the fight, but Plant failed to land many of the big punches that got him an early lead in the scorecards.
How did Caleb survive that? --... pic.twitter.com/6XX4ksJeu3
— FOX Sports: PBC (@PBConFOX) January 14, 2019
This was Uzcategui's first title defense since being elevated from interim champion to full champion last summer after James DeGale vacated his belt. The fight was originally scheduled to take place late last year, but Plant suffered a hand injury, which postponed the bout. Plant, whose record now improves to 18-0, has not fought since defeating Rogelio Medina in February 2018.
