PLANT STOPS FEIGENBUTZ INSIDE TEN ROUNDS

IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant successfully defended his title for the second time on Saturday night, stopping mandatory contender Vincent Feigenbutz inside 10 rounds in Plant’s former hometown of Nashville, Tennessee.

Plant (20-0, 12 KO) took control of the action from the opening bell, soundly outboxing Feigenbutz, who was fighting in the United States for the first time that night. Despite getting outclassed, Feigenbutz kept coming forward with a high guard, taking the punches from Plant fairly well.

But the fight slowly became a beating after the first few rounds, as Plant began to bust Feigenbutz up from that point on. Plant also performed spectacularly on defense, with Feigenbutz only landing a handful of clean punches in the entire fight.

The beatdown continued into the tenth round until referee Malik Waleed waved the fight off during an extended flurry by Plant. While Plant executed a near flawless performance, it was clear that he was in the ring against an overmatched opponent.

With the win over Feigenbutz, Plant now looks forward to more difficult challenges at 168 pounds. One possible opponent for Plant would be WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez, who also fights for Premier Boxing Champions. Benavidez (22-0, 19 KO) regained his belt last year, stopping Anthony Dirrell in September.

In the co-featured bout, welterweight contender Abel Ramos stopped Bryant Perrella with one second left in the 10th and final round. At the time of the stoppage, the official scorecards read: 88-83 (X2) and 87-84, all in favor of Perrella.

Perrella, now 17-3 with 14 KO’s, had appeared to be in control of the fight all the way up until the stoppage. He consistently outthrew and outlanded Ramos throughout, even hurting him with combinations multiple times.

But Ramos, who had been sick for two weeks going into the fight, endured the punishment and kept coming forward. He had some momentary success in the later rounds leading up to the stoppage, perhaps winning a round or two, but it was apparent that Perrella had a significant lead going into the tenth round.

Perrella even seemed to be controlling the 10th round, but with less than a minute to go until the final bell, Ramos caught Perrella with a devastating left uppercut. Perrella beat the referee Jack Reiss’ count, but was still hurt getting back up, and was eventually sent down again with less than ten seconds to go.

This time, Perrella beat the count, but Reiss apparently did not like the body language of Perrella when he got up. After making a hurt Perrella walk about five to ten feet in another direction, Reiss waved the fight off after seeing Perrella slightly stumble again.

With that, Ramos, now 26-3, 20 KO, has earned his eighth consecutive win and second consecutive stoppage victory.