The new PBC titleholder score two knockdowns as well.
He wasn’t favored by most going into the bout, but Premier Boxing Champion prospect Caleb “Sweet Hands” Plant (18-0, 10 KOs) upset the odds with a clear unanimous decision win over now former titleholder Jose Uzcategui (28-3, 21 KOs) to become the new IBF super middleweight champion. Plant showed some real power along the way too by putting the Venezuelan down twice on a big shots in the 2nd and 4th rounds.
Plant was both the technically better fighter and more athletic man in there. He began to fade in the middle of the fight, but it didn’t really matter until the last third. Caleb was doing well to get enough done and the tie Jose up so he couldn’t really respond. Not that he was trying that hard to respond anyway. While Uzcategui was constantly coming forward and putting on pressure, he was doing it more with his feet and physical strength rather than punches. He just wasn’t moving his hands. The pressure fighter can’t throw 150 less punches than the boxer and expect the strategy to work.
Uzcategui did find some footing over the last few rounds. Plant showed some stamina issues and began really eating some shots here and there for the first time, but he was never close to being finished or notably hurt in except for briefly by a right hand in the ninth round. The official scores came back 116-110 twice, which was also my score, with a 115-111 all for Caleb Plant.
22 year old Brandon Figueroa (18-0, 13 KOs) impressed in the co-main event as well with a two round massacre of fringe contender Moises Flores (25-2, 17 KOs). This was just a beating. Figueroa, brother of largely inactive contender Omar, launched a nonstop assault that simply decimated the two time former title challenger. Danny Roman took all twelve rounds last time out with Flores, but Figueroa needed less than six minutes with this outstanding performance. The win was technically a WBA eliminator, but that always carries unclear meaning within that inept sanctioning body. Will Figueroa be put in with Roman or will they create a “regular” or “interim” belt for him to fight for? Super bantamweight is one of the handful of weight classes in which the WBA only has one titleholder currently and you just know they don’t like that.
18 year old middleweight prospect Joey Spencer (6-0, 6 KOs) also picked up a second round stoppage win on the main card. I get that the kid is a good prospect that PBC is excited about, but watching him thrash helpless 40 year old Brandon Harder (2-2, 1 KO) didn’t do much for the show.
There was also a preliminary broadcast on before the main card. This sort of dividing the card in half is a move FS1 did a lot with the UFC shows as well. It is a way for them to air more bouts without the earlier, less watched fights dragging down the ratings for the main bouts by putting them on what is technically a separate show even if the viewer would never know.
The main event of those preliminary bouts saw 38 year old Guillermo Rigondeaux (18-1, 12 KOs) return to the ring for the first time since his ill fated bout against pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko thirteen months ago. Rigo was in very soft against Giovanni Delgado (16-9, 9 KOs) to be clear, but I was still impressed with how he came forward aggressively nonstop until he found the first round finish against an overmatched opponent. The Cuban’s weakness has been his passivity and none of that was on display here. Smaller fighters typically don’t find any success in their very late 30s, but if anyone can be the exception it is Guillermo Rigondeaux.
Speaking of failing to find success in his very late 30s, former contender Allan Green (33-6, 22 KOs) found himself flattened at 39 by the younger, bigger Ahmed Elbiali (18-1, 15 KOs) in just three rounds. Elbiali just was far too strong and threw too many punches for the well faded fighter to contend with. Green looked good for about a minute, but as soon as he got hit it all fell apart. And despite Allan likely being shot at this point, this was still a big win at this point for the Egyptian-American as he continues to rebuild his career following his loss to Jean Pascal last year.
Finally, excellent prospect Lindolfo Delgado (8-0, 8 KOs) opened the show with a dominant win over journeyman Sergio Lopez (22-13-1, 15 KOs) in the overall broadcast’s opener. Like most of these fights, this was a one sided beating. The 2016 Mexican Olympian was just far too talented for his opponent in there. The 24 year old junior welterweight is one the more impressive up and comers in the sport and it showed. Really the only drama to be found here was in just how much punishment the journeyman was able to take before the fight ended in the third. It was a lot.
