By Allan Fox: Next Tuesday, the kickoff press conference for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant fight will be taking place on September 21st at 1:30 PT at the Beverly Hilton, The Wilshire Garden in Beverly Hills, California. Masks are required by the media.
The organizers for the Canelo-Plant event have picked a beautiful location for the first press conference by placing it in Beverly Hills. It should make it enjoyable for the media to stage the press conference in that great area.
WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) and the unbeaten IBF champion Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be discussing their undisputed 168-lb battle on November 6th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The fight will be shown live on pay-per-view.
We’ll see if Plant’s new coaching assistant Andre Ward will attend the press conference. Having Ward there will make it enjoyable because Canelo was displeased when he discovered that the former super middleweight champion is helping Plant.
Indeed, Canelo said he could fight Ward and Plant on the same night, which isn’t possible. But it gives fans a glimpse of the anger that Canelo has over Ward helping Plant.
Robert Garcia says Ward can’t make Plant smart
“I think from the first training camp, he could pick up some things from Andre Ward,” said Robert Garcia to Little Giant Boxing about Caleb Plant being given coaching tips by Andre Ward for the November 6th fight with Canelo.
“Andre Ward is a very defensive, brilliant fighter in the ring,” said Garcia. “You can’t give a fighter the smarts.
“I’m not saying Caleb Plant is not smart, but Ward is known for being one of the smartest guys inside the ring.
“He can’t make Plant smart, but he can teach him some stuff, help him with some stuff. It’s a benefit for Plant. Andre Ward has been one of the best fighters out there, and he should help him.
“Will it be enough for him [Plant] to beat Canelo? I don’t think so, but I think it’s interesting that Ward is going to help him and get him ready for the fight.
“It’s important that Caleb Plant believes in himself. A lot of fighters could be really good fighters and have a good chance of winning. But if they don’t believe in themself [they can’t win].
‘Oh, I’m fighting Canelo.’ They’re not going to have a chance. But Caleb Plant believes in himself and thinks he can pull it off. That’s why it’s going to be a great fight. I think Canelo is going to win, but it’s going to be a great fight.
“Caleb Plant is preparing himself to be undisputed, and beat the best fighter on the planet right now, so he’s going to go with that mentality. That’s good because we, as fans, are going to see a great fight,” said Garcia.
Ward doesn’t have to make Plant smarter for him to the fight. All he has to do is tell him HOW to go about beating Canelo, and that likely involves using his great jab and a lot of movement to keep the shorter Mexican star from getting within range to land.
Canelo will be too strong for Plant
“I think Canelo is going to be too strong for Plant,” Robert predicts. “I think the first few rounds will be good for Caleb Plant. He’s got good boxing skills, and he’s tall, and he’s going to have that advantage, and he’s going to work some angles.
“I’m pretty sure that Ward is working on stuff like that with him. So, I think he’ll be complicated for a few rounds, but eventually, Canelo is going to start landing and breaking him down, and I think he’ll break him down,” said Robert Garcia.
If Plant can utilize his height and reach, and stay on the outside against the 5’8″ Canelo, he has a shot at winning.
What Robert is expecting to happen is Plant standing in front of Canelo the way Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Avni Yildirim, making it easy for him to land his big power shots.
If Plant is stationary against Canelo, he has no chance of winning because he doesn’t punch hard enough, and his stamina issues will service.
