By Allan Fox: After taking care of WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in stopping him in the eighth round last Saturday night, WBA/WBC champ Canelo Alvarez is now targeting IBF belt-holder Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant for the undisputed championship in September.
Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) captured his third title at 168 last Saturday with an injury stoppage of Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Saunders had been making the same mistake all night by leaning forward, practically begging Canelo to hit him with uppercuts.
Despite eating repeated uppercuts, Saunders failed to make changes to how he was fighting and ultimately cost him dearly when Alvarez landed a right uppercut to his right eye in the eighth.
Saunders suffered an eye injury, which is believed to be a fractured orbital bone. Rather than come out for the ninth, Saunders wisely quit on his stool.
Canelo’s promoter Eddie Hearn is hoping that the 28-year-old ‘Sweethands’ Plant and his management at PBC aren’t difficult when negotiating that fight, as they would prefer this match to happen next.
Hearn says he’s open to having Canelo fight on DAZN or FOX, but obviously, he would much prefer it to be the latter.
FOX will need to make a bigger offer than DAZN if they want the fight to be on their network platform, as they’re going to have to come up with a lot of money to make that happen.
“That’s the plan,” Canelo told DAZN about his intentions on facing Plant next for the undisputed super middleweight championship in September. “That’s the plan to go for the [IBF] belt, and I’m coming, man. I’m coming, my friend,” said Canelo in sending a message to Caleb Plant.
There are bigger fights out there that the U.S and worldwide boxing public would prefer that Canelo take next rather than face Plant, but he’s got tunnel vision right now.
Canelo wants to make history by becoming the undisputed 168-lb champion, even though Plant is a lackluster opponent.
It looked bad the way Plant turned down a fight with former two-time WBC 168-lb champion David Benavidez recently after his victory over 38-year-old Caleb Truax. Instead of taking the fight with Benavidez to make the match with Canelo a bigger affair, Plant turned it down, saying that his left hand was buried from the Truax match, and he wanted to rest it.
“It’s the only fight,” Eddie Hearn said to DAZN about Alvarez only wanting IBF belt-holder Plant next. “Hopefully, Caleb Plant feels the same way.”
“For Canelo, the Caleb Plant fight is obviously what we want to do,” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout. “He [Canelo] want to be undisputed; he’s won all the belts in the [super midldeweight] division.
“There shouldn’t be any major issues making that fight, I hope not, because he [Canelo] can fight on any platform he wants. I’ll deal with Caleb Plant’s manager, and he works with Al Haymon.
They may turn around and say, ‘We have to do it on FOX,’ and if they put the money up, we can do that. But there’s going to be a lot of money on the table from DAZN for Caleb Plant as well.
“I’m relaxed; I just want to see that fight. Canelo has been on a fantastic run. He boxed Callum Smith, Yildirim, and Billy Joe Saunders. Now he’s going to box Caleb Plant. That’s going to be four fights in nine months. That’s quite remarkable.
“I think in Vegas,” Hearn said when asked where the Canelo vs. Plant fight will likely take place. “One of the beauties about Canelo being a network-free agent is the absence of politics.
“The DAZN numbers tonight were absolutely off the charts, so they’re going to make a massive play for the [Canelo – Plant] fight. FOX will have to put up a lot of money for the fight if they want it as well.
“So Canelo is sitting there smiling, and that’s the beauty of being in his position. For me, I’ll go out and get the best deal for Canelo Alvarez. I’ll make sure he and Eddy are comfortable with the fight where it is,” said Hearn.
