By Dan Ambrose: Caleb Plant sent out a Tweet earlier on Sunday telling fans not to listen to the negative headlines about his fight with Canelo Alvarez possibly not happening.
Plant may have picked the wrong guy to play hardball tactics. If Plant chooses to be stubborn with his desire to get a huge payday from Canelo, we could see him lose the fight.
David Benavidez was the voice of reason, giving Plant advice about him needing to take the money being offered to him by Canelo.
Benavidez says Plant should take the $8 million and then prove that he can beat Canelo. If Plant beats him, then he can ask for big money in the rematch.
But the way that Benavidez sees it, Plant isn’t confident that he can win the fight, so he’s trying to cash in with the biggest payday he can get because he knows he’s going to lose to Canelo.
Canelo has the following backup options for his next fight:
- Artur Beterbiev
- Dimitry Bivol
- Jermall Charlo
Either of those guys would make for a bigger fight for Canelo than a match against Plant.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) posted side-by-side quotes by Canelo’s promoter Eddy Hearn and Alvarez’s trainer Eddy Reynoso.
It’s believed that the negotiations are at an impasse due to Plant wanting $10 million+, whereas Canelo’s management is said to be offering him considerably less than that.
It’s believed that Plant is being offered between $6-8 million for the Canelo fight.
Hearn clarified that Canelo is ready to fight other champions if the negotiations with IBF super middleweight champion Plant don’t pan out. It’ll be interesting to see if Plant prices himself out by sticking to his guns about wanting over $10 million.
If so, Plant could wind up with no fight because he doesn’t have much to offer other than his IBF title. He’s not as popular as Canelo’s last opponent, former WBO 168-lb champion Billy Joe Saunders, who got $8 million for the fight against the Mexican star.
Reynoso wants the Plant fight for Canelo, but he also mentioned that Jermall Charlo and Errol Spence Jr are other options.
Y’all stop listening to headlines because as you see…. Don’t let social media fool you 😂 pic.twitter.com/Rc6jLizPcs
— CalebPlant (@SweetHandsPlant) July 4, 2021
$8 million is a huge payday compared to what Plant got for his fights against little-known opposition.
If Plant digs in his heels and demand that he gets nothing less than $10 million, Canelo should walk away and look to fight Beterbiev, Bivol, or Charlo.
Hearn said they need to get this fight done this week because they need to promote it. September 11th is just around the corner, and Hearn and Canelo negotiate right up to the date of the fight.