Canelo Alvarez apparently is rethinking his Caleb Plant option
According to ESPN, the on and off again prizefight between unified super middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KO’s) and IBF 168-pound champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (21-0, 12 KO’s) is back on. Their two teams seemingly had come to an agreement for a September 18 showdown. Then, moments before the contract crossed the finish line, the negotiations suddenly and mysteriously imploded.
Canelo, then, tried to salvage his Mexican Independence fight date by securing a bout with WBA super world light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (18-0, 11 KO’s). Unfortunately for Team Alvarez, the bout could not be hammered out in time and the coveted date was lost. Now word on the street has it Canelo and crew are once again looking to finalize the deal with Plant. If the fight does come to fruition this time, it appears that the two will battle on FOX pay-per-view.
TURNING TABLES
If the prizefight with Sweethands is to come next, many will see this as a great symbolic win over Alvarez. When negotiations had initially fallen through, Plant was quick to publicly reveal he had agreed to all of Canelo’s terms. This was done to illustrate the point that the fight was not undone due to his refusal or being difficult. Logically, this would imply that it was team Canelo that was causing the delay. Others believe that PBC mastermind Al Haymon is using Plant’s last super middleweight title as leverage to secure an unknown objective.
In either case, the fact that Canelo is circling back around to the IBF 168-pound champion indicates that there is some bending on his part. That is greatly significant because the boxing giant has always been all too happy to flex his A-side might in negotiations. Given this history, it will be interesting to see if this fight does actually come together. If the two do clash in the historic bout, it will be even more revealing to finally hear what all the snags were about!
By: Bakari Simpson
