Canelo Alvarez already thinking about his next fight against IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) despite still needing to beat Billy Joe Saunders on Saturday.
Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) wants to finish up his goal of collecting all four belts in the 168-lb division, so you can’t blame him for looking beyond his next fight against Saunders (30-0, 14 KOs).
IBF champion Plant is clearly the bigger hurdle for WBA/WBC champion Canelo and the final one for the Mexican star to make history in September.
The way that WBO champion Saunders has carried himself, coming across in a passive-aggressive manner, he looks like he’s lost the fight before the bell has even rung to start it.
Saunders has been acting like he’s been sulking for weeks, and he’s arguably not lifting a finger to help promote his fight with Canelo this week.
If Canelo didn’t want Saunder’s WBO belt so badly, he likely wouldn’t be wasting his time with this lackluster fight.
For Canelo, it’s got to be demotivating to have an opponent like Saunders because there’s nothing to gain from the fight other than his WBO belt.
The boxing fans won’t give Alvarez credit for the win because Billy Joe is viewed as a paper champion and the weakest link.
Canelo wants Plant next
“That’s what I want, all of the titles in this division,” said Canelo to the Last Stand podcast about wanting to fight Plant.
“My first move is Billy Joe Saunders; of course, I need to win, and then the next champion is Caleb Plant, and that’s the goal.”
One thing about Plant that has turned out to be a big disappointment, and that’s his ‘play-it-safe attitude.
Plant won his IBF 168-lb strap against a flawed Jose Uzcategui in 2019, and he’s played it utterly safe, defending his strap against these flawed fighters:
- Vincent Feigenbutz
- Caleb Truax
- Mike Lee
Plant had the chance to help build interest in a fight between him and Canelo by taking on David Benavidez, but he bruised his left hand from his last fight against 37-year-old Caleb Truax last January.
He didn’t want to risk injuring his hand worse and messing up his fight with Canelo in September.
So instead of fighting Benavidez or another contender, Plant will be sitting and waiting eight months to fight Canelo in September.
The fans don’t believe Plant’s hand is injured at all. They think he’s afraid of losing to Benavidez and messing up his payday fight against Canelo.
Canelo NOT interested in fighting Andrade
“He’s fought nobody yet, you see the record, but he’s fighting with nobody. I have other plans!” said Canelo.
Andrade would be a bigger fight for Canelo in the United States than his current one against Saunders, but it would be risker.
You wouldn’t see the same sulking type behavior for Andrade as you see with Saunders if Canelo were to fight him. Andrade would help market the fight by giving interviews.
He wouldn’t be playing the victim and acting as if he’d already lost.
Alvarez not worried about Saunders’ boxing skills
“I’m not the same guy from 5, 6 years ago, I’m different, I have experienced, I’m a more mature boxer,” said Canelo.” So he can say whatever he wants, but on May 8th, he’s going to be in a different level fight.”
Saunders doesn’t have the boxing skills that Erislandy Lara possessed when he fought Canelo back in 2014.
If you were to take the Canelo that exists now and trim him back down to where he was when he fought Lara at 154, he’d have just as many problems against him as he did back then.