PBC is officially pushing Caleb Plant versus Canelo Alvarez
From moment that WBA Super, WBO, and WBC World Super Middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KO’s) invaded the 168-pounds division, he has been on a mission. The redheaded Mexican superstar brazenly declared that he had breached the new territory to collect all the belts. On his quest to become undisputed, former WBA Super champ Callum Smith was the first to get roughed up and strong-armed for his belt. Four months prior to that bout, former WBC Super Middleweight champion David Benavidez put himself in a precarious situation. He did this by missing weight in his dustup against Roamer Angulo. The WBC saw this as an opportunity to take his belt, which they did, and throw it up for grabs in the Alvarez vs Smith prizefight.
So, after Canelo was finished brutalizing Smith, he gobbled up his WBA strap as well as Benavidez’s pirated WBC title. Next on the menu was WBO Super Middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders. Some felt that the slick UK southpaw had enough talent and tricks to give Alvarez a hard time in the ring. Others thought that was the pinnacle of nonsense. Once in the squared-circle however, the WBO champ did provide Canelo with quite a few problems.
Well, that was before Canelo slugged him in the face during the eighth round. With his eye socket sufficiently mashed up, Saunders became overwhelmed and near immediately quit on his stool. After the pain from his injury drained the courage of battle from his body, Alvarez claimed his WBO title too. Now that the redhead is armed with the WBA Super, WBC and WBO straps, the only one that remains to be usurped is Caleb “Sweethands” Plant’s (21-0, 12 KO’s) IBF 168-pounds title.
Since 2020, it has openly been planned that Saunders would get his shot at Canelo first. If the Mexican prevailed, which he did in spirit-breaking fashion, then the next at-bat was to be Caleb Plant. Since presenting Saunders his first major in-ring adversity and watching him scramble back to the UK, Alvarez has refocused his attention on Plant, as promised. In reciprocation Plant’s PBC promoters have responded in kind.
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Some may harbor the belief that because the unified champion is not affiliated with the PBC that this may be a difficult fight to make. Yet nothing should be further from the truth. There has never been a time when the Alvarez vs Plant unification match was being planned that PBC ever presented themselves as a potential impediment. This notion has been reinforced by the organization’s Instagram post which encouraged the finalization of the prizefight.
It should be noted Team Alvarez actually got in contact with Plant seeking to stage a fight prior to Saunders. While Sweethands was interested, he felt that accepting at that time would put him at a disadvantage. Plant was coming off a recent win over Vincent Feigenbutz when he received an unofficial offer to do battle. Nevertheless, Plant felt that resting his mind and body were the most important pieces of business to attended to. Shortly thereafter, Saunders was bumped up on the list of adversaries.
Yet, never at any point did the PBC demonstrate that they would be an obstacle preventing the fight. Precedent also backs this up. PBC openly worked with their bitter Top Rank rivals to make Deontay Wilder versus Tyson Fury. Therefore, especially with their recent post, it is hard to believe that anything regarding this mind state will change. From the very inception of the PBC, their motto has always been ‘fighters first.’ So there is little to no reason to believe they would hamper such an important fight for one of their own charges.
By: Bakari Simpson
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