Caleb Plant lets Mike Lee know what is going to happen to him on July 20!
On May 22 in LA, the presser for IBF super middleweight world champion Caleb “Sweet Hands” Plant (18-0, 10 KO’s) and challenger Mike Lee (21-0, 11 KO’s) got awful tense!
The day before, Plant was nearly smoldering while speaking at the podium, today he was just about on fire. To say that the slick Tennessee fighter carries a chip on this shoulder is a gross understatement.
As motivation, Plant frequently refers to his impoverished upbringing and the minimal fanfare he received coming up thru the ranks. More recently, and far more tragic, Plant uses the memory of deceased daughter and mother to stay as sharp as possible.
Plagued with health problems from birth, Caleb’s daughter, Alia, passed away on January 29, 2015. While this horror is enough to crush even the toughest people, Plant persevered.
Then, just a hair over two months ago, Caleb’s mother was shot and killed in a violent incident with police. Instead of allowing these mind-numbing events to shatter his resolve, Plant uses it all for fuel for the fire. In addition, to assure Mike Lee to his face that he is not built nearly sturdy enough to usurp his title.
Challenger Mike Lee has admittedly had a much smoother road to travel. His childhood was not rife with poverty, he has an impressive college education and literally only boxes because he wants to.
Mike openly admits all of this and is equally proud of his position in life. Although it was very clear that Lee had grown irritated with Plant reiterating all the things that he had not experienced and not ready for.
During the previous presser, in NYC, Lee was content to sit by a listen to Sweet Hands speak his piece. Today, on several occasions, Lee would cut Plant off with a number of his own side cracks.
Plant was poised and ready for all the smoke whether fistic or verbal. When Sweet Hands told Lee to:
“Enjoy this big payday because this is your last one after I knock you the fuck out,”
the event host thought it a great time to wrap up their segment!
When the two faced off moments later, the heated wolfing continued nose-to-nose until the rival fighters had to be separated by their respective teams.
By the looks of it, this is going to be one intense firefight when the two mix it up in the ring on July 20!
By: Bakari Simpson
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