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Caleb Plant Wanted To Face Jermall Charlo Right Away
Caleb Plant (left) after stopping Trevor McCumby (right) in the 8th round. IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire

Caleb Plant Wanted To Face Jermall Charlo Right Away

Originally posted on KO on SI  |  By Nathaniel Marrero  |  Last updated May 27, 2025 7:36 PM ET

If Caleb Plant would have had his way, he'd be in the ring against Jermall Charlo.

But alas, in a tale as old as boxing, Plant and Charlo are fighting on the same card in the same weight class but in separate bouts. Plant will defend his interim WBA super middleweight title in a 12-round bout against Armando Resendiz in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on Amazon Prime Video on Saturday at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.

In the co-feature, Charlo will return to the ring for the first time in 18 months when he faces Thomas LaManna in a 10-round super middleweight bout.

Plant (23-2, 14 KOs), who is a former IBF super middleweight champion, went on The Ariel Helwani Show and said he wanted to go straight into a bout vs Charlo, but the year-plus layoff led to the two taking interim bouts with plans for them to face each other if they win their respective bouts on Saturday.

"I did want to go right into the Charlo fight," Plant said. "Obviously, he's been inactive for a little bit, and he wanted to get active and get a tune-up fight, or whatever you want to call it. I felt like this was my fastest way to a big fight that I really wanted. At the time, Canelo and (William) Scull were busy. (Jaime) Munguia was busy with Bruno (Surace). Edgar Berlanga doesn't want to fight, so I can't force his hand. This was my fastest way to a big fight."

One doesn't need to look far to see the last time a card meant to set up a big fight later in the year didn't pan out. The Time Square had Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia on the same card on May 2, with hopes they'd meet in a rematch later in 2025. Haney did his part, albeit in uninspiring fashion, defeating Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision, but Garcia was upset in a unanimous decision loss to Rolando "Rolly" Romero in the main event.

Plant is coming off a 9th-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby on Sept. 14 to win the interim WBA super middleweight title. Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs), a former two-division champion, last fought on Nov. 25, 2023, when he defeated Jose Benavidez Jr. by unanimous decision in a 10-round bout.

Charlo has only fought twice since his unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Sept. 26, 2020, which stands to date as one of the best, if not the best, win of his career.

Plant's opponent, Resendiz (15-2, 11 KOs), stopped Fernando Peliza in the 5th round the last time he stepped into the ring on Feb. 21. The most notable win of Resendiz's career was a 10th-round stoppage of former unified junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd on March 4, 2023. LaManna (39-5-1, 18 KOs) has won nine straight fights since losing via first-round knockout to current WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara.

Plant and Charlo are both substantial favorites heading into their respective bouts, and a potential bout between the two is one of the bigger fights that could be made in the U.S. this year. But if there's anything that boxing has taught fans, it's that anything can happen, and if one of Plant or Charlo gets upset, a fight between them will be added to a long list of fights that were spoiled by a loss before two fighters were supposed to square off.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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