Jermall Charlo (34-0, 23 KOs) remained unbeaten when he stopped Thomas LaManna (39-6-1, 18 KOs) in six rounds on May 31 at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.
In the co-headliner, his rival and intended next opponent, Caleb Plant, failed to replicate his triumph and now their upcoming showdown is in doubt.
Charlo fully expected Plant to defeat Armando Resendiz convincingly to set up their grudge match for later on in the year.
The inactive Charlo, 35 from Texas, did his part by dropping New Jersey’s LaManna three times, putting an end to his nine-fight and four-year win streak by forcing a stoppage just one second into the sixth round.
Plant was a 25-1 favourite on fight night, but the hard-hitting Resendiz upset the former IBF world super-middleweight champion by securing a surprise split decision to win the WBA interim super middleweight title from Plant.
The unexpected victory has ruined any momentum Plant and Charlo could’ve built for their fight.
“Man, we gotta go back to the drawing board with this one,” Charlo said during his post-fight press conference. “Caleb Plant dropped the ball. He looked out of shape. He looked – he couldn’t have fought me tonight. … You know, I’m not here to bash nobody, talk down on nobody, but Caleb Plant dropped the ball on this one.”
Plant thought he did enough on the night, but the judges disagreed. However, Plant vs Charlo could still take place next.
“I want my lick back,” Charlo said after ending an 18-month layoff. “I still want my lick back. I don’t care if he [Plant] got the belt or not. We could make a belt. They could make a belt. Somebody make a belt. I want my lick back.”
The bad blood between two-weight world champ Jermall Charlo and Plant stems from an incident after the Terence Crawford-Errol Spence Jr. weigh-in at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in July 2023. Plant slapped Charlo in the face backstage as they were laving the venue because the Houston native pulled on Plant’s beard and face earlier that day.
The 32-year-old Tennessean’s latest loss to an unheralded opponent certainly decreases the appeal for the fight with Charlo. Promoter Tom Brown acknowledged that there remains a possibility they will still fight next.
“Everyone was putting the cart before the horse, going into this fight, and I never do that,” Brown told The Ring. “We have a lot of work to do now that the chips have fallen into place. We’ll decide what the best route is for everyone.”
