Caleb Plant made a statement on Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The 30-year-old former IBF super middleweight champion was returning to the ring for the first time since suffering the first loss of his career nearly a year ago when he suffered a TKO loss to Canelo Alvarez.
Plant made his return against Anthony Dirrell in a super middleweight title eliminator bout which served as the co-main event on the Deontay Wilder vs. Robert Helenius pay-per-view.
Leading up to the fight, there was a lot of bad blood between the two men with heated trash talk that led to extra animosity in the ring. But when it was all said and done, Plant was able to channel the bad blood into his left hook which landed clean in the ninth round to score a brutal knockout win.
Caleb Plant KOs Anthony Dirrell with a huge left hook 😱 #Boxing pic.twitter.com/31nv2CRgjQ
— bjpenndotcom (@bjpenndotcom) October 16, 2022
A one shot knockout from Caleb Plant closes the show in the 9th round. #WilderHelenius
OMG! pic.twitter.com/ACYEhLwpuo
— FITE (@FiteTV) October 16, 2022
Once Plant took care of business, it was clear the beef was not squashed as Plant celebrated by taunting an unconscious Dirrell with the “gravedigger” celebration before the referee intervened.
Caleb Plant 'digs a grave' after KOing Anthony Dirrell, ref tries to stops him 😬 #PlantDirrell | #WilderHelenius pic.twitter.com/YeZKdyT0ug
— Ring Of Highlights (@ringofhighlight) October 16, 2022
“You know this win felt good. You’ve heard how much he hates me and calling me all types of names. Even saying, ‘I’ll never let a white boy beat me’ but let me tell you, skin colour don’t win fights, this wins fights, what’s inside,” Plant said in his post-fight interview.
“And what I’ve got in here is more than he had. I was in full control the whole time, my coach kept telling me to stay patient, don’t listen to the crowd, stick to the gameplan and that’s what we did and then, boom baby!”
With the win, Plant now moves one step closer to a potential rematch with Canelo Alvarez.
