Canelo Alvarez will hurt Caleb Plant says Joel Diaz

By Boxing News - 10/31/2021 - Comments

By Sean Jones:  Trainer Joel Diaz is predicting that Saturday’s fight between super middleweight champions Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant will play out exactly like the Mexican star’s last match against Billy Joe Saunders.

Diaz thinks WBA/WBC/WBO 168-lb champion Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) will start slowly in the early rounds and then come on in the second half to hurt and stop IBF champion Plant (21-0, 18 KOs).

Canelo and Plant are fighting for the undisputed super middleweight championship at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. The fight will be shown on Showtime PPV.

“This fight with Caleb Plant is going to be similar to the [Billy Joe] Saunders fight,” said trainer Joel Diaz to Fightype. “Canelo is going to get in there and be patient.

“He’s going to have trouble in the early rounds because of Caleb’s speed, but Canelo is smart. He has really good reflexes.

“He avoids a lot of punches, and he’s going to apply the pressure. He’s going to attack the body, and when he’s ready, he’s going to land some good shots,”  said Diaz Jr.

It’s easy to predict that Canelo-Plant will play out like the Billy Joe Saunders fight, especially given the still healing cut that Plant has over his right eye from where he was tagged by Canelo last September.

Image: Canelo Alvarez will hurt Caleb Plant says Joel Diaz

That cut has a good chance of opening up early in the fight, and Canelo will take advantage of it go for the knockout.

I’m surprised the fight didn’t get postponed because if Canelo was the one that was cut, it’s likely he would have insisted on pushing the match back into 2022  so that he could let his eye heal.

“That’s the way it’s going to go. I think Canelo,” said Diaz. “I think Canelo is going to hurt Plant after the eighth round. In the early rounds, as I say, he’s going to have a little bit of problems.

“That’s the way the fight is going to play out. It’s going to be similar to the Saunders fight,” said Diaz in picking Canelo to win.

If Plant gets tired in the second half of the fight like he did against Jose Uzcategui in 2019, Canelo will definitely hurt him and possibly score a cut stoppage.

They say they’re trying to make history to become the first undisputed champion at 168, but the fans have largely tuned out that marketing angle. They don’t care about that junk.

Canelo and Plant are better off talking about the animosity they still feel after their brawl last September at the kickoff press conference. Now that was interesting. Plant calls Canelo a drug cheat, and then next thing you know, wham!

Fans just want to see a good fight, and could care less if the winner will be the first undisputed champion at 168. Fans have already seen fighters become the undisputed champion in other weight classes, so this old hat for them.

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