By: Hans Themistode
If you sat down with Anthony Dirrell and had a frank conversation with him about Caleb Plant, the former super-middleweight holder’s face would turn disgusted.
The 37-year-old has never kept his feelings a secret about his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. In fact, a few days before Plant stepped onto the ring with Canelo Alvarez, Dirrell was unable to hold his tongue anymore as he rips him off.
“The way he acted was unreasonable,” Dirrell told a group of reporters. “It just didn’t suit me. He’s an asshole. ”
In addition to Dirrell belittling Plant for his overall personality, he punished him heavily for the level of opposition he has faced since winning the world championship against Jose Uzcategui in 2019. .
“He fought assholes after he got the belt, period.”
Although Dirrell time and again expressed his deep disdain for Plant, the 29-year-old ignored him because he was keeping an eye on history. On November 6, earlier this year at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Plant managed to become the first undisputed super-middleweight champion of all time. The only man standing between Plant and what he believed was his destiny, was balanced for British star Canelo Alvarez.
While Plant was considered a sizable loser when it came to getting in, he ignored the betting market and fought Alvarez mostly on parity terms. However, despite Plant’s will to win, Alvarez proved himself ahead, stopping a graze shot past Southpaw in round 11.
When the match between Plant and Alvarez was officially over, the former IBF super middleweight player turned his attention to Dirrell. Entering the match against Alvarez, Plant did his best to ignore the criticism from his former teammate. However, while he remained mostly silent, he heard Dirrell’s words loud and clear.
“It seems like he said a lot of things about me,” Plant said in an interview with FightHype.com. “If he doesn’t like me, he should do something about it.”
Ironically, Dirrell was last seen in the ring on the same night as Plant. The rough and rugged opponent scored the winner in the fourth round in the co-main match of Plant vs. Alvarez against Marcos Hernandez. After the victory, Dirrell boldly called for a match against Alvarez.
Despite his appeals, Plant believes he hasn’t done enough to secure a shot at the pound-for-pound star. However, if Dirrell wants to prove himself worthy in his duel against Alvarez, Plant believes the confrontation with himself means all in the world.
“He feels like he deserves the fight with Canelo but his last two games he’s fought the middleweights, one of which he’s drawn,” Plant continued. “He played well this last game but everyone knows how well I beat Canelo. They know how well I did. If he wants to prove himself worthy of that fight then beat me.”
