By Adam Baskin: Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant weighed in at 167 1/4 lbs, and his opponent Anthony Dirrell came in at 167 3/4 pounds for their chief support fight this Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) seemed agitated, with his voice cracking after he and the former two-time WBC super middleweight champion Dirrell (34-2-2, 25 KOs) had words during their face-off.
Dirrell pointed out during his interview that he’d heard that Plant had been hurt during training camp by one of his sparring partners. He said that the guy that hurt Plant was a 160-pounder and that he hits a lot harder.
It’s not good that Plant had a mole in his camp, sharing information about him getting hurt by a sparring partner.
If true, what Dirrell said about Plant getting hurt in training camp by a middleweight could be a sign of lingering effects from his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez last November. Plant was knocked out in the 11th round by Canelo.
Plant was sporting a long beard today, and, interestingly, he will be allowed to fight with that without the New York State Commission requiring that he trim it. There’s arguably a lot of padding with that beard that can cushion the blows.
“He got hurt in camp, I heard that, by a 160-pounder,” said Dirrell after weighing in, talking about Plant. “You got hurt, boy. I hit way harder than that. He seen it. We planting it, he knows what it is,” said Dirrell about his shirt, which has flowers on it.
“He already knows. The talking is over; it’s time to work,” said Dirrell.
“I don’t care about the talking,” said Plant after weighing in. “The whole lead-up, he’s been real emotional. He’s weak emotionally, he’s weak mentally, and we’re not here to stand on emotions. We’re here to stand on business. I don’t care nothing about that.
“There’s nothing he does, nothing he says that can take me out of my zone, but it’s going to feel good when I have my hand raised tomorrow. Have my hand raised in fashion,” said Plant when asked for his prediction for Saturday.
“I know everybody wants to know the game plan and what I got on him, but we got to see on the 15th because I don’t want to give that away right now, but I see a lot. I mean, not much, but I just got to pick my shots good,” said Anthony Dirrell to Secondsout about his fight against Calen Plant.
“I’ve stayed in shape outside of the ring, so I don’t have to get ready. I went into camp in shape already and came out in even better shape. I’m ready for this fight and ready to prove everybody wrong and write my name in the history books,” Dirrell continued.
“Jealous of what? I don’t even know that man. Where is it in the rule book that I got to like somebody? There’s nowhere in the rulebook that I got to like him. I can hate anybody that I choose to hate. I can.
“For you to act the way you do outside the ring, it’s nothing personal. I feel like I’ve made all the accomplishments that I’ve made. I came back from cancer, a motorcycle accident, and won two championships. Many people can’t say they did that. One person that I know, and that’s Daniel Jacobs to say they came back from cancer to win a championship,” said Dirrell.
