By Sean Jones: Boxing great Marco Antonio Barrera predicts a brutal 12 round decision win for Canelo Alvarez next month when he faces the technician Caleb Plant for the undisputed 168-lb championship on November 6th.
Barrera is pleased that WBA/WBC/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo (56-1-2, 38 KOs) is about to make history to become the first-ever fighter to become the undisputed champ in the weight class.
Canelo’s chances of scoring a knockout of Plant are minimal because Caleb won’t be standing directly in front of him as his last three opponents did. Canelo had it easy against Billy Joe Saunders, Callum Smith, and Avni Yildirim because they didn’t have the wheels to get away from him.
For Canelo to beat the highly mobile IBF champion Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), he’s going to need to cut off the ring to force the Tennessean to fight because he doesn’t like to get hit.
All four 168-lb straps will be on the line next month on November 6th when Canelo meets Plant in the main event on Showtime pay-per-view at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.
Canelo is on the verge of making history
“Look, no one has ever in the history of boxing done that, winning all the belts in that division,” said Marco Antonio Barrera to Fighthype on Canelo being on the verge of becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion.
“In this case, I think it’ll be a great fight, but a difficult one, a very difficult one,” Barrera continued about Canelo.
“But he has the ability to win, and still people will say, ‘Wow, a Mexican has never done this [become undisputed 168-lb champion],’ and I hope people accept him as a great,” Barrera said of Canelo.
While some boxing fans will appreciate Canelo’s actions if he becomes the undisputed champion at 168, many others won’t be impressed.
If Canelo had to go through a murderer’s row of champions to become the first undisputed champion at super middleweight, fans would appreciate his accomplishment a lot more. That’s not the case here. Canelo picked up his three 168-lb titles by beating these less than stellar champions:
- Rocky Fielding – WBA
- Callum Smith – WBA & vacant WBC
- Billy Joe Saunders – WBO
Unfortunately, those fighters were viewed as paper champions, so Canelo gained very little credit for beating them. They were weak British champions, and they’d never beaten anyone good during their careers.
Canelo would gain more respect from fans if he won his 168-lb titles from these killers:
- David Benavidez
- David Morrell Jr.
- Dmitry Bivol
- Artur Beterbiev
- Carlos Gongora
- Jermall Charlo
- Gennadiy Gololovkin
Plant will use movement
“He [Caleb Plant] moves a lot, uses his legs and the ring,” said Barrera. “I’ve been watching him. Canelo is going to have to go forward, find him and cut the ring off and go to the body due to the style that Plant has.
“He’s [Plant] very technical, he moves back, and he doesn’t like to take damage. That’s where Canelo needs to change it up, cut the ring off and find him.
“I think Saul should win a decision, but I’d like him to get a KO under ten rounds, but he will win by a decision.
“I think he’s [Canelo] better than all his rivals. His opponents also don’t try to win. Look at [Billy Joe] Saunders.
“He was honest with himself. Like, ‘Why continue if he’s going to keep hitting me?'” said Barrera on Canelo’s opponents, not even trying to win.
It’s not a great revelation on Barrera’s part for him to be predicting that Plant will be using movement against Canelo. That’s how Plant fights, moving, jabbing, and defending. He’s not like the weak opposition that Canelo has been padding his record with since his controversial win over Gennadiy Golovkin in 2018.
