Billy Joe Saunders says Canelo Alvarez isn’t invincible and he can be beaten if Caleb Plant uses his boxing brain and keeps the fight at a safe distance for the full 12 rounds on Saturday night.
Saunders found out the hard way that you can’t afford to relax even for a second against Canelo last May.
When Billy Joe lost his concentration in the eighth round for just an instant and Canelo took advantage of it by fracturing his right orbital bone with a huge uppercut.
Saunders says Plant must stay busy in the first six rounds, and then finish strong in the last half of the fight because that’s when Canelo will be trying to pull out the victory.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will have his IBF super middleweight title on the line against WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) in the undisputed championship at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight event will be televised on SHOWTIME PPV.
“I don’t think he’s the invincible man,” said Saunders to Talksport about Canelo. “I think that Plant’s got a very good boxing brain, he just needs to maintain his distance.
“Make sure you’re out of distance, don’t just think you’re out of distance.”
“He’s got to make sure to be on his game all the way, I think he’s going to give Canelo a good fight,” said Saunders.
What we learned from the right-hand counter that Canelo nailed Plant with during the press conference, it’s not a good idea for Caleb to throw left hooks unless he’s absolutely certain he won’t get tagged back.
Saunders advises that Plant should focus on throwing jabs because those are a lot harder to counter, especially by a fighter with a short reach like Canelo.
That’s why Gennadiy Golovkin, Erislandy Lara, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. had so much success jabbing Canelo. They used their reach to nail him with shots and took away his ability to counter.
Interestingly, the Nevada judges that worked Canelo’s fights with Lara and Golovkin didn’t put much weight on the jabs that he was getting hit with the entire fight, which is they gave him the victories and a draw that he didn’t appear to deserve.
“I think not to switch off for a single second because sometimes you can feel comfortable in there,” continued Saunders in giving Plant advice on how to beat Canelo.
“But Plant’s got all the tools to cause him problems,” said Saunders. “Keep it very busy for the first six rounds and finish strong. He’s got to certainly maintain that jab.
It’s easier said than done. Canelo has one of the best trainers in boxing. He has already evaluated potential strategies ahead of time.