By Dean Berman: IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant (19-0, 11 KOs) will be defending his title against #3 IBF contender Vincent Feigenbutz (31-2, 28 KOs) on February 15 on PBC on Fox at the Bridgestone Arena, in Nashville. Tennessee.
Feigenbutz is very heavy handed, and he could give Plant problems if he’s able to land his shots. The German fighter tends to run out of gas after 6 rounds, and he’s vulnerable at that point.
The Plant vs. Feigenbutz hasn’t been officially announced, but the Bridgestone Arena’s website has it listed for the Feb.15 date.
Vincent Feigenbutz taking a big step up
Feigenbutz hasn’t fought anyone with the kind of talent that Plant has going for him, and it’s going to be a big ask for him to compete
The 24-year-old Feigenbutz is an eight-year pro, who comes from Germany. He started his professional career at an early age of 16, and was seen as a future world champion. After just five years as a pro, the then 21-year-old Feigenbutz fought for the vacant WBA super world 168-lb title against Giovanni De Carolis in January 2016 and was stopped in the 11th round.
Feigenbutz had previously beaten De Carolis by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision in October 2015 in Karlsruhe, Germany. Many boxing fans felt that De Carolis had done more than enough to deserve the victory in the fight.
Since his loss to De Carolis in 2016, Feigenbutz has won his last 10 fights against lower level opposition.
Plant making his second defense of his IBF belt
This will be a homecoming defense for the 27-year-old Tennessee, native Plant, who was born in Nashville in 1992. He now lives in Henderson, Nevada. Plant has never fought in Tennessee before during his five-year professional career, so this will be a treat for his boxing fans from that city and state.
Plant will be making his second defense of his International Boxing Federation 168-lb title that he won earlier this year in defeating Jose Uzcategui by a 12 round unanimous decision. Going into that fight, a lot of boxing fans expected Uzcategui to defeat Plant, but that wasn’t the case.
Plant out-boxed Uzcategui, and knocked him down twice in rounds 2 and 4 to win the IBF belt. Since then, Plant has defended his IBF strap successfully once in defeating Mike Lee by a 3rd round knockout last summer on July 20 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lee moved down from light heavyweight to take the fight with Plant, and he no match. Unfortunately, the fight wasn’t remotely competitive, as Plant dropped Lee 4 times in the contest before the match was halted in the third round.
Plant was criticized heavily by boxing fans leading up to the fight, because Lee was picked from the bottom of the IBF’s rankings at 175 at #15, and he’d never fought anyone talented before to rate a title shot. There were plenty of contenders in the IBF’s rankings that Plant could have defended his title against at 168, but instead Lee was picked for him. It made for poor television.
Plant NOT fighting Alfredo Angulo
There had been talk that Plant would be defending his IBF belt against #11 IBF fringe contender Alfredo Angulo, but that won’t be happening. Angulo has lost 2 out of his last 4 fights, and it would be tough for boxing fans to get excited at the prospects of watching Plant defend against him on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox.