By Sean Jones: Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant negotiations have reportedly collapsed in their undisputed 168-lb championship fight now appears to be dead for September 18th. Nothing was mentioned for the breakdown of the negotiations between Canelo’s management and Plant’s team with PBC.
ESPN is reporting that the deal fell apart over contract “disagreements” of some kind. The Plan-B now for Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) is to move up to 175 to challenge unbeaten WBA light heavyweight champion Dimitry Bivol (18-0, 11 KOs) for his title.
Was Plant too greedy?
I hate to say it, but I told you so. I knew this fight wasn’t going to happen because as soon as Plant started babbling about wanting $1o million, I knew it was the kiss of death to a deal getting made.
Plant had reportedly been asking for $10M for the fight with Alvarez, which some boxing fans would argue was $4 million above what his belt was worth. Callum Smith got $6 million to fight Canelo and seemed like a nice tidy sum perfect for Plant.
When you’re talking $10 million, that’s the kind of money that talented fighters like David Benavidez or Artur Beterbiev would rate against Canelo.
Basically, Canelo was buying Plant’s belt. This fight wasn’t about Canelo facing Plant. It’s all about his IBF 168-lb strap that the Mexican star wanted to get his hands on to complete his collection of super middleweight straps.
While some people collect stamps, coins, and comic books, Canelo collects titles from paper champions. As such, that’s why Canelo wanted to fight Plant, but what a shame. Did the boy price himself out or what?
Sean Jones views Canelo-Bivol as a far better fight than the Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) match-up, as Canelo is now fighting the #2 guy in the division rather than the #4.
Plant had nothing going for him other than his IBF 168-lb title, and ultimately that wasn’t enough.
Disagreements sank the Canelo-Plant ship
“Talks have broken off over disagreements in the contract, multiple sources tell ESPN,” said Mike Coppinger. “The contract was passed back and forth between Canelo’s team and Al Haymon’s team over the weekend, sources said, and after multiple edits requests, the deal collapsed over the stalemate”
“Talks could be revisited, sources said, but time is running out if Canelo plans to fight on Mexican Independence Day Weekend as he traditionally does. If he moves on from a fight with Plant, another option is a return to 175 pounds for a title tilt with Russia’s Dmitry Bivol, sources said.”
So there it is. Canelo vs. Plant is dead in the water, and now Matchroom Boxing will need to quickly put a deal in place for Canelo to move up to 175 to challenge Bivol for his WBA belt.
The credit Canelo will get for fighting Bivol will be much greater than if he faces Plant, who looked appalling against Jose Uzcategui in 2019.
That was easily the best opponent of Plant’s professional career, and he was all over the place, getting staggered, running, and fighting on empty after six rounds.
Plant looked like a poor man’s Billy Joe Saunders in that fight, and he was lucky Uzcategui had gotten off to a bad start.
Canelo can always check back in to snatch Plant’s IBF 168-lb title from him in December or early 2022 after he faces Bivol first. Believe me; Plant isn’t going anywhere.
Canelo can pick up the IBF 168-lb strap later
Plant’s going to hold onto his IBF title because he’s not going to take the chance of losing the belt by fighting a quality fighter like Benavidez, Carlos Gongora, or David Morrell Jr. Those guys would all likely beat Plant.
If Canelo still has a hankering to continue with his belt-collecting hobby, he can always come back down to 168 to win the IBF belt. Maybe by then, Plant or his management’s asking price will have come down.