Plant: Truax Has Had Some Things To Say About Me, I Plan To Make Him Pay On Jan. 30

Caleb Plant has always been more about making history than friends when it comes to his time in the ring.

Still, the unbeaten super middleweight titlist can’t quite put a finger on his flair for bringing the worst out of his opponents. The latest example comes in an apparent five-year beef with former titlist Caleb Truax, whom Plant next faces to defend his 168-pound title.

“He’s had some things to say about me in the past and I plan to make him pay for it on January 30th,” Plant told BoxingScene.com ahead of their upcoming title fight, which will air live from Fox from Shrine Expo Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Truax (31-4-2, 19KOs) is generally viewed as one of the sport’s most likeable figures, although the former super middleweight titlist has never masked his disdain for his undefeated counterpart. The rivalry between the two Calebs dates back to Plant’s 12th pro fight, a 6th round stoppage of Adasat Rodriguez in Jan. 2016. The FS1-televised affair apparently didn’t sit well with Minnesota’s Truax, whose viewing interest was limited to his friend Jamal James in the evening’s main event.

“[One] round in and I already hope Caleb Plant gets knocked out,” Truax tweeted in real time.

That wish wouldn’t come true on that night or any other to date. Plant has never been dropped through 20 pro fights while emerging among the super middleweight elite.

Truax is far from the first to have harsh words for the 28-year old Tennessee native. Past title fight victims Jose Uzcategui—whom Plant dethroned in Jan. 2019—Mike Lee and Vincent Feigenbutz also played the role bitter challengers, while former two-time titlist David Benavidez has the most to say about Plant without actually having yet faced his unbeaten divisional counterpart.

“I don’t know what it is. I don’t know why they dislike me so much,” notes Plant, who now lives and trains in the greater Las Vegas area. “That’s kind of how I found it to be in my career. They either really like me and go all out to support me, or they just flat out don’t like me.

“I never really understood why, but that’s alright. It’s a fight, so I don’t want [Truax] to like me. I know I don’t like him. I couldn’t care less about his feelings towards me. When that bell rings, if he’s got something that he don’t like about me then that’s where he can do something about it.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox