IBF Title Eliminators Take Place On FOX And Showtime Cards

After the World Boxing Super Series semifinals in Manchester concluded, FOX and Showtime each had separate boxing cards in the United States with a couple of major fights as the opening bout.

Over on the FOX card, Caleb Plant defeated Rogelio Medina by unanimous decision (120-108, 119-109, 117-111) in an IBF super middleweight title eliminator. Plant remains unbeaten as he outboxed and outworked a tough, yet sluggish Medina. Only Plant was eligible to win the title eliminator after Medina was 0.8 pounds over the super middleweight limit of 168 pounds.

Plant now sits as one of the few boxers who could challenge for the IBF title held by Caleb Truax. Truax does not have a fight scheduled yet, but he could be facing former champion James DeGale in a rematch from their first fight last December.

Opening the Showtime Championship Boxing card in Las Vegas, Yordenis Ugas scored perhaps the biggest win of his career by stopping Ray Robinson in the seventh round to move into the second spot in the IBF welterweight rankings. Ugas dominated Robinson en route to his sixth straight win, all of which came after Ugas returned from a long break in the sport and started fighting in the welterweight division.

With the win, Ugas could have an IBF welterweight title fight sometime this year. Errol Spence Jr., the current champion, is scheduled to defend his title against an opponent to be determined in Texas this June. Ugas is no stranger to fighting on big boxing events as his last win prior to the win over Robinson came against Thomas Dulorme on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor FOX prelim card.