By Aragon Garcia: In disappointing news, IBF super-middleweight champion Caleb Plant says he WON’T take a fight with Canelo Alvarez if offered to him for May 2 because he doesn’t want to start training camp for that fight after 2 weeks rest following his easy 10th round knockout win over Vincent Feigenbutz last Saturday night.
IBF super-middleweight champion Plant (20-0, 12 KOs) is young at 27-years-old, and says Team Canelo is trying to catch him when “I’m overworked.” Plant’s fight against the over-matched Feigenbutz (31-3, 28 KOs) was seemingly an easy one at the Bridgestone Arena, in Nashville, Tennessee.
Some fans are going to ask ‘is Plant BABYING himself’ by not willing to work hard to get a career-high payday. The average person on the street would obviously be willing to jump back into camp to prepare for a fight that would set them up for life against Canelo. So why is Plant different?
Andy Ruiz Jr. took a fight against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on 2 weeks’ notice last June and shocked the world in stopping him in 7 rounds, Ruiz wasn’t complaining about how he didn’t get his rest after having recently completed a training camp for his fight against Alexander Dimitrenko. Ruiz Jr., 30, is older than Plant, and obviously not as well-conditioned.
Caleb could miss out on a career-high payday
Plant says he wants to rest after a 3 1/2 month training camp, and recommends that Canelo face 168-lb champions Billy Joe Saunders or Callum Smith to win their belts. In the meantime, Plant wants to face WBC super middleweight champion David Benavidez to try and take his title to unify. Plant says he’ll face Canelo after the two of them pick up an additional title.
The only reason Golden Boy Promotions would be looking in Plant’s direction is that Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith turned down the offers made to them. It doesn’t appear to be a conspiracy where Golden Boy is trying to intentionally make Plant look like he’d DUCKING Canelo. Why would they waste energy trying to make Plant look like he’s ducking when they’re pushed against a deadline to find an opponent for Canelo in a hurry.
Caleb would be turning down a career-high payday against Canelo if the fight was offered to him. Canelo may never look Plant’s way again, especially if he dismisses the fight. By not being willing to get back into training camp, Plant could be missing out on a huge payday that he may never see again. He’s not old where he needs rest like a fighter pushing 40.
Plant doesn’t want to be “OVERWORKED” in taking Canelo fight
“How far is May away? So that means I have half a month off after a 3 1/2 month camp, and we go right back to work, right?” said Plant when asked if he’d like to fight Canelo in May. “Just so they can try and get me when I’m overworked? So you control the narrative, you control the media.
“They make an offer when I just fought, so when I say, ‘No,’ then it seems like I’m ducking them,” said Plant about Canelo’s team.” So you control the narrative, you control the media. Don’t let them fool you. As I said, I’m a world champion. I’m a world-class fighter, and I’m on my time. This is CP time.
“That’s Caleb Plant time. They want me to take half a month off and then get back to work after a 3 1/2 month camp. Six weeks of pre-camp. As I said, don’t be fooled. So, we’re going to get to him. He’s got fights left on his contract. Why doesn’t he go and beat Billy Joe and Callum, and become unified, and then I’ll whoop David [Benavidez], and then I’ll become unified. Then we can fight for all the marbles. That sounds a little bit better to me,” said Plant.
Kovalev was willing to start training camp without rest
Canelo’s last opponent former WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev jumped back into training camp after a month’s rest after his fight against Anthony Yarde last August. Kovalev, 36, was willing to do it, and he was well paid in getting a $12 million payday to face Canelo on November 2. Canelo beat Kovalev, but he was also an older fighter. It probably didn’t make much difference that he wasn’t able to get another 4 to 8 weeks of rest after the Yarde fight.
Plant is young and might think that the Canelo fight will be offered to him in the future if he turns it down now. He may be wrong, and if that’s the case, you can bet he’ll be kicking himself at some point. If Plant loses to Benavidez, he’ll be back as a contender, and who knows if he’ll ever win another world title. At that point, he might second guess his decision to turn down the Canelo fight if offered to him.
