NEW ORLEANS – Saul “Canelo” Alvarez confirmed that he will face Caleb “Sweethands” Plant for the undisputed super middleweight title on Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
Mexican Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) holds three 168-pound titles (WBC, WBA and WBO) while American Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) owns the fourth, the IBF.
“This Nov 6th we’ll put Mexican boxing on top,” Alvarez wrote on Twitter according to Reuters.
“Going for the missing belt!”
Both boxers dominated in their opponents in their most recent fights.
Alvarez claimed his third title when Billy Joe Saunders’ corner threw in the towel in the eighth round of their May bout.
Plant successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision win over Caleb Truax in January.
lant has been saying out loud that he hopes this battle will happen, looking for the biggest battle of his career. He defeated Jose Uzcategui by unanimous decision in 2019 to win the title. Since winning the championship, Plante’s title has been a bit disappointing, because he dominated mid-sized or elderly opponents.
The match was postponed from the originally expected start date of September 18, because Alvarez and Plante saw a breakdown in negotiations, and the Mexican superstar considered other options for that date.
In the past few years, Alvarez’s performance has been amazing, jumping in the heavyweight competition of the World Championships to reach the light heavyweight.
In the match against Sergey Kovalev, he won 2019, the best knockout of the year. As he won the championship, he set the goal of becoming a super middleweight four-belt champion, and he was also exploring the possibility of returning to the light heavyweight. Rumored plans to cooperate with Dmitry Bivor and Artur Beitbyev fought.
Names like Golovkin, Jacobs, Cotto, Khan, Kovalev and Smith have all fallen victim to Canelo’s gloved fists. Only Golovkin has arguably proven to be Canelo’s equal (both fights between the two men ended in controversial decisions).
Plant has never fought anyone near the caliber of the top fighters Canelo has bested. Yet at 29 years of age, he’s carved out a niche for himself in the current boxing scene by winning and winning effectively.
Of course, he can forget about that niche now that he’s fighting one of the most well known athlete’s on earth.
Canelo will clearly be the favorite – and rightfully so – but it’s worth noting Plant has his own gifts to bring to the table, such as the ability to be slick, to maintain range, and to finish an opponent off.
The question of whether or not any of those skills will shine against domineering Canelo will be now likely be answered in the fall.
