By Ian S Palmer
Undefeated Caleb Plant will be defending his IBF Super Middleweight Championship for the second time when he takes on the hard hitting Vincent Feigenbutz of Germany in Plant’s hometown of Nashville, Tennessee this Saturday, February 15th. The 12-round bout can be seen live in North America on Fox and Fox Deportes. Plant last boxed in July when he stopped previously unbeaten Mike Lee in the third round. Feigenbutz last fought in August when he stopped Cesar Nunez in the eighth round for the vacant IBO International Super Middleweight Title. He also defended his Global Boxing Union Belt at the same time.
The 27-year-old Plant, who now resides in Las Vegas, won the title in January, 2019 when he beat Jose Uzcategui by unanimous decision in a mild upset and dropped him twice on his way to victory earlier this year. He enters the ring with a perfect record of 19-0 with 11 Kos and also looked impressive in his previous bout against Rogelio Medina in February, 2018 as he managed to neutralize his opponent’s punching power. Plant is a pretty good-sized 168-pounder as he’s 6-feet-1-inch tall with a 74-inch wingspan.
He doesn’t possess great one-punch power but carries around a decent knockout ratio of 56 per cent. Plant turned pro in 2014 and has boxed 100 rounds since then. He had a good amateur career and boxed in the 2011 and 2013 Golden Gloves. He was also an alternate for the American Olympic Team for the 2012 Games in London, England. His best wins as a pro have been over Lee, Uzcategui, Medina, Juan De Angel, Carlos Galvan, Thomas Awimbono, Adasat Rodriguez and Andrew Hernandez. He possesses fine mobility, skills and speed and will try to utilize those attributes against the relatively Feigenbutz.
As for Feigenbutz, he’s just 24 years old and already has a fine record of 31-2 with 28 big Kos. He’s obviously been quite busy since turning pro in 2011 as a 16 year old and has 138 rounds of experience under his belt. He lives and dies by the sword since he owns a current knockout ratio of 85 per cent and has been stopped in both of his losses. He was halted in the third round by Roman Javoev in just his second pro outing and was stopped by Giovanni De Carolis in January, 2016.
That defeat was for the interim WBA, and Global Union Super Middleweight Titles. Feigenbutz had beaten De Carolis three months earlier by unanimous decision to retain those titles after being dropped in the first round. He had won his titles earlier that year with a third-round stoppage of Mauricio Reynoso and also won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Title in 2015 with a ninth-round TKO over Balazs Kelemen.
He then added the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Crown with a third-round stoppage of Mike Keta in late 2016. Feigenbutz is just over 5-feet-10-inches tall with an unlisted reach so gives up close to three inches in height to Plant. Many North American fans may have never heard of Feigenbutz but he’s done quite well for himself considering he’s been a pro since the age of 16 and had no amateur experience.
Prediction…
Plant’s win over Uzcategui was a mild upset and Feigenbutz is now hoping to do the same thing to Plant. There’s no question the challenger had enough power to cause some damage but his chin might not be strong enough to take the title. We could be in for a changing of the guard here but I think Plant should be expected to retain his title on Saturday night.
