Trainer Stephen Edwards says Caleb Plant “should feel insulted” that Trevor McCumby waited 14 years to finally step up to face his first big-name opponent against him on Saturday night in their fight for the WBA interim super middleweight title at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
(Photo credit: Rey Del Rio/Premier Boxing Champions)
Edwards, who trains the former IBF 168-lb champion Plant (22-2, 13 KOs), feels that 31-year-old McCumby (28-0, 21 KOs) should have stepped up long ago to face quality fighters instead of waiting this long.
It’s better for Plant that he’s fighting an inexperienced fighter like McCumby because if the promoters had chosen a better fighter than him, like Christian Mbilli or Diego Pacheco, his chances of winning the WBA interim title would be lower.
Plant, 32, wants a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, and fighting McCumby is the ideal guy to help him get that second fight against the Mexican star.
Plant has a 1-2 record in his last three fights, with his only win coming against 38-year-old Anthony Dirrell. Who knows what his record would look like if he didn’t fight Dirrell?
“He doesn’t have as many knockouts as Trevor, but he’s fought better competition, and he stepped up a lot earlier in his career,” said trainer Stephen Edwards to Fight Hub TV, talking about Caleb Plant having fought better competition than Trevor McCumby ahead of their fight on Saturday.
Edwards is right that Plant has fought better competition than McCumby, but he fails to say that he’s 0-2 against those fighters. In the two fights where Plant stepped it up against better competition, he was knocked out by Canelo in the 11th round in 2021 and beaten by David Benavidez by a 12-round unanimous decision in 2023.
It only counts in a fighter’s favor for having fought better opposition if they’re winning those fights. You can’t count Dirrell as being quality competition due to his advanced age. He was 38 when Plant fought him and nowhere near the level, he was fighting at when he was in his prime in 2014.
“Caleb should feel insulted that the guy [McCumby] waited 14 years to step up and he picked him,” said Edwards.
