Caleb Plant scores a late knockout of Trevor McCumbie in a wild back-and-forth clash on the Alvarez-Berlanga undercard.

Caleb Plant and Trevor McCumbie were supposed to clash in the summer before the eye injury. The pair finally met during Saturday night’s undercard Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Edgar Berlanga And Plante overcame a game challenge from the heavy-hitting McCumbie to score a TKO in the ninth round of their interim WBA super middleweight title fight.

McCumbie struck first with a huge left hook in the second round. Plant went down but only after McCumby threw him to the ground. Still, Plant was on the rubber as he retreated to his corner as the bell rang.

McCumbie threw Plant to the canvas again after landing a big shot to start the third round, and Plant seemed to settle into a rhythm from there, popping hard jabs and picking the right spots to throw power punches with precision.

Despite positive momentum, Plant got caught in the fourth round, dropped to the canvas and nearly went through the ropes. Plant seemed to be on steady footing and the knockdown was to the arm from a punch that knocked Plant off balance.

Plant changed tactics in the fifth round, pushing McCumbie to the ropes and daring him to win the phone booth battle. McCumbie had his moments, but Plant seemed to flip the switch, regularly tagging McCumbie with power punches and mixing in a heavy dose of Taunton after McCumbie’s taunts in the early rounds.

Once the plant flipped the switch, there was no looking back. McCumbie continued to try to fire back with powerful counter shots but he let off a constant stream of punches with an increased focus on pounding body punches as he was pushed by the more accurate fighter.

At the end of round 9, Plant unleashed his full arsenal and pinned McCumby on the ropes again. As Plant fired shot after shot, McCumby began to lunge against the ropes and the referee jumped in to stop the action as the bell rang to end the round.

“It was pretty hard to take it easy,” Plant said after the fight. “Word on the street is that I can’t fight inside but I think I proved tonight that I can. It feels good to be the WBA interim champion.”