By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Caleb Plant had to get up from a fourth-round knockdown, but stormed back to overpower Trevor McCumby in route to a ninth-round stoppage win on the Canelo vs Berlanga undercard.

Plant (23-2, 13 KO) was a heavy favorite coming in, but did show some rust after an 18-month layoff, and had to sort of grow into the fight. He definitely had to do that once it was clear that underdog McCumby (28-1, 21 KO) was here to fight, as he brought some power shots to the former titleholder early, and scored that knockdown in the fourth. With a fight probably tied after four rounds and Plant maybe a point down, Plant had to use his experience and start taking control of the fight.

Whether he’ll admit it or not, Plant seemed to “wake up” from there, and the dog came out of him, as he stood in the pocket and bullied McCumby both physically and mentally starting in the fifth round, leading to the referee stopping the fight right before the end of round nine.

Now that Plant is the interim WBA super Middleweight champion which makes no sense since the present WBA champion is still active and champ.  His name is Canelo Alvarez.

Plant landed more than double the punches, and connected on nearly 55% of his punches, showing his domination.

The 41-year-old Erislandy Lara faced Danny “Swift” Garcia at Middleweights but the 36-year-old Garcia coming off a two-year layoff looked older as a fighter than Lara.  Garcia only connected on 33 punches over 9 rounds and connected on 17 percent of punches.  He looked slow, tentative, and unable to get any offense going.  In the second round he didn’t even connect on a single punch. It is not that Lara was spectacular as he connected on only 67 punches and landed only a quarter of his punches, but he was a more effective fighter.

Garcia was a champion at 140 and 147 pounds while defeating high profiles but now he is an older fighter, and it showed.  Garcia lacked energy and not the aggressive Garcia in his prime and he got consistently nailed by Lara right hand jab.   Lara landed consecutive rights before a sharp left sent Garica to his knee in the ninth.  His corner stopped the fight and maybe a great career will be over. 

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Terence Crawford was shooting  for a fourth title at the 154-pound division against WBA champion Israil Madrimov, but it was not a coronation as Crawford won a close decision with judges scoring the fight 115-113,115-113 and 116-112.  Most every round was close as Crawford averaged 8 landed punches and 36 throws whereas Madrimov averaged 7 punches landed and 23 punches thrown. This was a fight that many rounds saw one or two quality punches decide the round. Crawford threw over 200 more punches and more active, but he only had 22 percent accuracy and Madrimov actually connected on 30 percent of his punches and landed some good rights throughout the fight plus concentrated on the body. 

The bout proved to be a tactical fight and Crawford had the superior jab and this allowed him to connect occasionally with his right hand and Madrimov landed clean right hands but there were very few combinations punches and the one punch Madrimov landed successfully was his looping right but he also missed quite a bit with that punch.

In seven rounds, Crawford landed a more punches and Madrimov landed more punches in just four rounds with one round even.  I had the fight 115-113 but you could have scored it 114-114 or 116-112 for there were rounds that were close to score.