By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez is predicting an early stoppage of unbeaten Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant on November 6th, saying he’ll take out the IBF 168-lb champion in rounds 7-9.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) has never been knocked out before, and it could be a mistake for WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Saul Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) to invest a lot of energy in trying to stop the Tennessean.
It’s become a bit too personal for Canelo to try and make an example of Plant because of his insult of him from last month in their first press conference in Los Angeles in which he called him a “mother f***er.”
Canelo must stay in control
Even though Canelo has used that same insult towards Demetrius Andrade and Daniel Jacobs, he doesn’t like it being used against him and seems to have taken what Plant said in literal terms.
It’s not a good idea for Canelo to go into the fight with a slick boxer like Plant angry as a bull because he’ll take advantage of his overly emotional attitude and school him as Floyd Mayweather Jr. did.
“I never have problems with my opponents, and I always respect my opponents,” said Canelo Alvarez to BT Sport on his fight with Plant. “The best fighter is going to win, not the best talker.
It doesn’t matter if Canelo has never had any problems with his opponents. What matters is he seems to be having a major conflict with Plant because of his trash-talking and his self-confidence, which appears to be the true reason for his anger.
Canelo is accustomed to fighting fighters that weren’t confident and did little trash-talking. Since their September 4th press conference, Plant has toned down his trash-talking of Canelo and seems to be taking it easy on him rather than continuing to wave a red flag in front of him to get him piping hot.
It’s important that Canelo step back and understand why he’s so angry with Plant because this suggests some kind of issue. People don’t get angry unless they have doubts.
What some boxing fans believe to be the real trigger for Canelo’s anger is Plant calling him a “drug cheat” due to his positive test for clenbuterol from 2018.
It’s clear that Plant doesn’t buy the Mexican beef excuse that was given for Canelo’s positive test.
Canelo predicting stoppage win
“Everybody says that before my fights and then they say different things,” said Canelo about fans and media always saying that his opponents are the best since his 2018 fight with Gennady Golovkin.
“Everybody says, ‘Maybe this is the toughest test for Canelo’ and then, ‘Oh, no.’ Everybody says the same thing. It’s going to be difficult in the first few rounds but nothing new for me.
“Yeah, it’s a difficult fight but I’ve been in many difficult fights,” said Canelo. “We’re different characters. I’m more secure in myself, so I’m different from others.
“Seven, eight, nine, around that,” said Canelo when asked which round he’ll stop Plant. “I don’t care which shot. I just need one or two.”
Hopefully, Canelo doesn’t lose the fight by swinging for the fences all night against Plant. I mean, it’s one thing for Canelo to fight that way against a past his prime Billy Joe Saunders, but it’s a different story for him to fight that way against a skilled operator like Plant.
Saunders was a decent fighter back in 2017 and earlier, but he’s looked washed up since 2019.
Billy Joe has looked poor since he moved up to the 168-lb division in 2019, and his mediocre opposition that he’d exclusively faced in the division indicates that he wasn’t going to be put in with a dangerous foe until he got a big-money match0-up. Plant is a different story. He’s not shot, and he belongs at 168, unlike Saunders.
