Caleb really Planted that one…
Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford have a big fight this weekend, but Caleb Plant and Jermall Charlo nearly started one of their own.
Plant, a former super middleweight champion, who perhaps most notably shared the ring with Canelo Alvarez in a TKO loss in November 2021, struck WBC middleweight champion Charlo at Friday’s weigh-in for Spence and Crawford.
It’s unclear what provoked the incident.
An additional video surfaced of a slapped Charlo seemingly unhappy following the confrontation.
Asked about the incident after, Derrick James — who trains Charlo’s twin Jermell, as well as Spence — said he had spoken to the two parties before the fracas.
In a conversation with Seconds Out posted on YouTube, he said: “I talked to them [Charlo and Plant] before, they were kinda getting into it. I told Caleb to step away, Jermall, whatever.”
“I saw them talking and I’m telling Caleb… ‘let it go,’ you know what I mean? He was like, ‘OK, coach.’ But then, Jermall touched him… I’m talking to him, but at this point, he’s not listening to me,” he added, subsequently pointing out that the slap took place “maybe an hour” later.
James, who said Charlo touched Plant first, was asked if the slap was justified, to which he replied, “Probably so,” while insisting he tried to de-escalate the incident beforehand.
Plant, who fights at super middleweight and competes at 168 pounds, most recently lost a unanimous decision to David Benavidez in March for the WBC interim super middleweight title.
Charlo, who has been inactive since June of 2021, fights at 160, which means that a fight between the two could potentially be made, especially because they’re both a part of the Premier Boxing Champions roster.
Charlo was reportedly in the mix to fight Alvarez in September, but the Mexican superstar is expected to share the ring with his twin — the undisputed super welterweight champion, who would move up from 154 to 168 pounds.
Alvarez holds the undisputed super middleweight championship.