Anthony Dirrell’s brother Andre Dirrell had positive words to say about him following his disappointing ninth round knockout loss last Saturday night against former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant (22-1, 13 KOs) on FOX Sports pay-per-view at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Anthony was giving Plant all he could handle in the fight until getting caught with a left hook that he didn’t see in the ninth round, resulting in his knockout defeat.
After the fight, Plant, with his lowly 56.52% KO percentage, and his trainer Breadman Edwards appeared to be painting a narrative of him having excellent power. That’s not the case, as he’s nowhere in the league of guys like David Benavidez, Demetrius Andrade, Canelo Alvarez, or Zach Parker at 168.
“My bro got caught. That’s the nature of the beast. We know what we signed up for,” said Andre Dirrell to Fighthype, talking about his brother Anthony Dirrell’s loss to Caleb Plant.
“Little brother, I’m proud of you. Hold your head. Don’t worry about what these haters are talking about, man. You showed up in this sport, and you did it after cancer, two-time world champion.
“Never forget that. Hold your head. You’re a man first. Then the sport follows. Be a man about it. We know what we signed up for. I love you, baby,” said Dirrell.
The knockout for Plant can easily be explained. He picked an old guy in 37-year-old Dirrell, who had been held to a draw by the unheralded Kyrone Davis last year and had won only once in the last three years.
It would be a different story if Plant’s knockout came against a younger fighter in their prime like David Benavidez (26-0, 23 KOs), but since he’s not shown much interest in facing him, all fans get are fighters like Dirrell, Caleb Truax, Vincent Feigenbutz and Mike Lee to form an opinion about him.
“The first time I caught pads with him, I was like, ‘Damn, man. You punch a lot harder than people realize,'” said Plant’s trainer Breadman Edwards at the post-fight press conference last Saturday night.
“He was like, ‘Man, you know, I’ve just been working on my defense. I haven’t always been committed to my shots, but I can punch. We were just been working on different things with Shields and stuff.’
“I was just really impressed. He [Plant] knocked out a couple of guys in sparring just like that [how he knocked out Dirrell], like sleep. I came to him last night, and I said, ‘The world hasn’t seen what I’ve seen in the gym.
“Sometimes, you probably overthink it in the fights. I want you to slow yourself down. I want you to show everybody what I’ve seen because I’m kind of being humbled when they keep saying you can’t punch.
“We were talking about it throughout camp. I was like, ‘You’re going to hurt this dude if he runs up on you and thinks you can’t punch.’
“So we went for a walk last night. We talked about life, and I told him that I wanted him to show everybody publicly what I’d seen privately in the gym, and he did it. That’s just a rumor that he can’t punch. All punches hurt.
“He’s a fast, explosive kid, and when you’ve got speed like that, and you hit people, you shock them when they don’t see it coming. That’s just guys in the media. All punches hurt. So don’t believe this man can’t punch.
“He’s very explosive, very strong, and very athletic. He may not be the biggest puncher in boxing, but you just can’t just walk up on him,” said Breadman about Plant.
“Just keep believing that. That’s what we want,” said a cocky-sounding Plant.
