Trevor McCumby may regret labelling Caleb Plant a quitter ahead of their September 14 showdown.
Plant is a former IBF super middleweight champion and has only lost twice in a 24-fight career that, in recent years, has been conducted at a level to which McCumby, 28-0 (21 KOs), is completely unaccustomed. While McCumby has only recently graduated to 10-rounders in the last year, Plant has been a fixture among the world’s best for the last five. His only losses came when he was stopped in 11 rounds after a courageous effort against Canelo Alvarez in 2021 and, in his most recent outing, when outpointed over 12 by David Benavidez last year.
During an interview with ProBox TV the 32-year-old was shown a segment of a conversation the channel had conducted with McCumby a few days earlier.
“I’m coming for his heart and I want to see what he has,” McCumby said as Plant watched and listened to the clip for the first time. “We’ve seen him quit; he quits. So, I mean, you haven’t seen that with me. Now, I’m going to be in deep water, so we’ll see if I can handle that or not. I guarantee you that, when the going gets tough, he’s going to find a way to quit.”
Plant took a moment to digest being called the worst thing a fighter can be called.
“I never quit so I don’t know what he’s talking about,” he said. “Obviously, in the first six rounds of the David [Benavidez] fight, things were going really well and right at the end of the sixth round I got hit with a shot right on the liver and as soon as I was starting to get over that, in the eighth round, I caught a headbutt.
“Blood was getting in my eye, it was hard to see, hard to judge distance. I was going for the clinch a little more because of that, and with hindsight that may not have been the best gameplan, but when it’s hard to judge distance, you’ve got to do the best thing you can, you’re in there by yourself. I never quit so I don’t know where he’s getting that from.
“I guarantee you, on September 14, I bet he quits.”
The interview continued and Plant, who has emerged from unthinkable tragedy in his personal life, started to explain that he’d sensed nerves in McCumby when they went face-to-face, but it was clear his mind was elsewhere.
Mid-answer he broke off to readdress McCumby’s accusation.
“You know, him saying I quit, I hadn’t seen that. That’s my first-time hearing that. For him to call me a quitter? I’ve never quit in my life. I’ve had a million chances [to quit], you all know my story, you all know what I’ve had to go through to get here, you all know the trials I’ve had to fight through to get here, and I’m no victim of that…
But for him to call me a quitter? That’s nice to know,” Plant said coldly, “we’re going to figure that out for sure.”