Caleb Plant is not Erislandy Lara, neither is he Gennady Golovkin; and there is as we know only one Floyd Mayweather. But Plant, a massive underdog going into tonight’s fight with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, has pointed to these three fighters as men who gave Canelo a tough time of things, with Mayweather of course going one big step further and comprehensively beating Canelo.
Plant, not a big puncher but a fast-handed boxer with plenty of grit, not to mention an absolute ton of inner confidence and self-belief, has looked at the fights Canelo had with Mayweather, Lara, and GGG, and he has clearly taken added confidence from them.
“He looked beatable against Lara,” Plant said of the man he will very soon be swapping punches within Las Vegas when speaking on a PBC podcast. “He got schooled by Floyd Mayweather. He lost the first fight with Triple G, and it was a really close fight the second time. It was a really close fight with him and [Sergey] Kovalev as well.”
It’s true a good few people felt Canelo should have seen the decision go against him in the Lara fight, while the draw with GGG was widely condemned. Mayweather and the fight he and Canelo had is a whole different story, while fans may disagree with Plant when he says Canelo Vs. Kovalev was a really close fight, this was before Canelo got the KO win.
So can Plant put in a performance tonight where he boxes and confuses Canelo (like Lara did for long periods) and also outworks Canelo, and manages to take his best shots (as GGG did in their first fight)? It’s a huge ask – as in really huge – but Plant has found some amazing confidence and belief from somewhere, and as he says, Canelo is not unbeatable. No fighter is. Plant has it all to prove tonight and he feels he will do just that – prove his worth.
Canelo seems determined to not only beat Plant, but to also hurt him and knock him out. He may well do it. But Plant will not go without a fight. Plant might just be the best boxer Canelo has been in with in quite some time. Not too many experts or fight fans are willing to go out on a limb and pick Plant to pull off the huge upset tonight. It is very hard to pick against Canelo, yet Plant is an extremely live underdog.
Prediction: Canelo gets the win tonight, but it comes via the score-cards and it is close enough for some debate.
Bok