Caleb Plant vs Vincent Feigenbutz expected to be announced

Image: Caleb Plant vs Vincent Feigenbutz expected to be announced
By Boxing News - 09/28/2019 - Comments

By Matt Lieberman: IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant (10-0, 11 KOs) is expected to face mandatory challenger Vincent Feigenbutz (31-2, 28 KOs) in his upcoming fight. The Sauerlands revealed on Saturday that the 24-year-old Feigenbutz has signed a contract to challenge for the super middleweight world title.

Although they chose not to reveal which champion Feigenbutz will be facing, it’s clear that it’ll be Plant. He’s his mandatory challenger. Some boxing fans think it’ll be WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders that Feigenbutz faces next, but his promoter Eddie Hearn says Billy Joe will be facing an American next [likely Denis Douglin] on November 9. Feigenbutz is from Germany.

Feigenbutz has 10-fight winning streak

Vincent Feigenbutz has won his last 10 fights since losing to Giovanni De Carolis in their rematch by an 11th round knockout on January 9, 2016. However, the only notable name among the 10 wins for Feigenbutz is Cesar Nunez (16-1-1, 8 KOs), who he stopped in the 8th round last January. Nunez isn’t considered one of the top contenders at super middleweight. He’s not ranked at all in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies.

For Feigenbutz ‘s sake, he needs more experience upper level opposition before fighting again for a world title. Feigenbutz’s  resume is shockingly bad in terms of the opponents he’s facing during his eight-year pro career. De Carolis is the only fighter among Feigenbutz’s 33-fight professional career that is recognizable, and he lost to him. Feigenbutz’s management has kept him winning, but they haven’t stepped him up against good opposition for some reason.

Conditioning for Feigenbutz could be an issue

In Feigenbutz’s loss to De Carolis, his poor stamina was exposed big time. Initially, Feigenbutz fought well in connecting with big shots against the Italian De Carolis (28-9-1, 13 KOs) in the first half of the fight. However, Feigenbutz looked physically spent going into the championship rounds, and this enabled De Carolis to take control over the fight and score a stoppage in the 11th. It was nothing spectacular that De Carolis did to win the match.

De Carolis basically outlasted Feigenbutz by dragging him into the later rounds. Feigenbutz’s promoters had matched him against a lot of mediocre opponents before he fought De Carolis, and this allowed him to score a lot of quick knockouts. On the negative side, Feigenbutz wasn’t able to develop his stamina, because he’d been knocking out the fodder that his management had been feeding him. De Carlos took advantage of Feigenbutz’s poor stamina by stopping him late.

Plant making second defense of IBF title

This will be the 27-year-old Plant’s second defense of his International Boxing Federation 168-lb title he won last January in beating Jose Uzcategui. In Plant’s first defense of his title, he defeated Mike Lee by a 3rd round knockout on July 20 on the Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman card on Fox PPV. Lee was selected by Plant’s management from the light heavyweight where he was ranked #15 by the IBF.

Fans were confused why Plant defended his title against a lower ranked 175-lb fighter instead of one of the top contenders in the IBF’s super middleweight rankings. As expected, Lee provided NO competition to Plant before folding in the 3rd round of one-sided fight.

The predictable outcome for Plant-Feigenbutz fight is an easy stoppage win for Plant. Feigenbutz arguably in the same talent class as Mike Lee, and he’s going to be over-matched against a skill boxer/puncher like Plant. It’s too bad that Feigenbutz’s promoters haven’t been putting him in with good opposition to help him develop. Sadly, he’s been facing the same low level opposition that he started his career out eight years ago against.

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