Caleb Plant’s trainer, Stephen Edwards, says the pro-Armando Resendiz crowd played a factor in Caleb losing the fight last Saturday night at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas. Edwards describes it as a “snowball effect” with Resendiz (16-2, 11 KOs) gaining energy and momentum from the applause he received from the fans starting from the third round.
Plant Loses WBA Interim Title
Resendiz defeated Plant (23-3, 14 KOs) by a 12-round split decision, capturing his WBA interim super middleweight title. The scores were 116-112 for Resendiz,115-113 for Plant, and 116-112 for Resendiz.
“Resendiz wasn’t throwing a lot of punches early because he doesn’t have the reflexes that Caleb has got. Caleb was kind of overworking, winning in the early rounds,” said trainer Stephen Edwards to the media after Caleb Plant’s loss to Armando Resendiz last Saturday night.
The punches that Resendiz threw on the inside were bothering Plant, as he was getting hit with hard shots on the side of his head. Unlike his previous fight against Trevor McCumby, he couldn’t use inside brawling to turn things around when he started struggling on the outside.
“Then the kid landed a right hand when Caleb was using the shoulder roll. I don’t teach Caleb to shoulder roll. That’s something he just does. When you get a guy his age [32], he was a world champion before he met me,” said Stephen. “You can’t restrict him completely, but I don’t like the shoulder roll because sometimes they hit you with right hands.”
A right hand from Resendiz to the head of Plant in the third seemed to take a lot out of Caleb, leaving him flustered and unable to fight the way he had in rounds one and two. Plant may have been hurt from that shot more than people know.
Crowd’s “Snowball Effect”
“It sort of changed the momentum of the fight. The crowd, everybody was getting into it. Every time Resendiz would punch, it was building up more and more energy and spurring them on,” said Plant. “Every time he would punch after that, his fans saw the success, and then I knew that it was like a snowball at that point.”
It wasn’t just Resendiz feeding off the crowd noise that gave Plant problems. It was Plant losing confidence and appearing unnerved. He’s the type of fighter who needs the crowd on his side for him to fight with self-belief. Once the fans turned against him last night, Caleb he mentally unraveled.
“Caleb didn’t fall apart. He held his own, and he landed some good shots, but it was the blood, the look of fatigue. When you’re in a fight like that, it’s one thing after another. It was Resendiz’s night,” said Edwards.
What’s troubling is how Plant looked tired so early in the fight. He was already looking haggard and old after the fourth round, and he really wasn’t being pressured hard by Resendiz. There was pressure, but it wasn’t overwhelming, unlike the way some fighters do.
Last Updated on 06/01/2025
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