By Sean Jones: Legendary trainer Nacho Beristain says Caleb Plant is courageous in facing pound-for-pound star Canelo Alvarez but he feels he’s going to be destroyed this Saturday night.
Beristain doesn’t see IBF super middleweight champion Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) coming out of the fight with the victory.
Plant could surprise Canelo if he’s in good enough shape to move for 12 rounds, and if he keeps the Mexican star bottled up on the outside all night. Still, even if Plant limits Canelo’s ability to connect with his shots, he could still win a controversial decision.
That would be up to the judges in how they interpret what’s going on inside the ring.
Ideally, we won’t have a controversial outcome in this fight because Canelo has already had too many during his career in which he’s been the guy that has been given the questionable decisions.
You never can count out a fighter, particularly when he’s younger, bigger, fighting in his natural weight class, and has the technical boxing skills that Plant possesses.
“I think Plant needs a lot of courage stepping in there but Canelo is a complete and total athlete, and I think he’s going to destroy him,” said trainer Nacho Beristain in picking Canelo to beat Plant.
Plant not an easy fight for Canelo says, Barrera
“Caleb is a long fight, a big fighter, so you got to use your reach to your advantage,” said Marco Antonio Barrera to Fight Hub TV on what Plant must do to beat Canelo Alvarez.
“Jab and move around the ring, but we’ve got to remember that Canelo has great body and head movement, so Canelo will find a way to go in. But Caleb has to move around the ring and hit and not get hit.
“No, Caleb is a smart fighter. He knows how dangerous Canelo is on the inside, so he’s going to use his advantage in his reach, his length and move around the ring instead of going toe-to-toe with Canelo,” said Barrera when asked if Plant will choose to try and use his size advantage by fighting Canelo on the inside.
“There’s no such thing as an easy fight,” said Barrera when told that Canelo’s boxing fans believe this will be an easy fight for him against Plant. “Each time you get in the ring, there’s always a risk of something going on. So easy fight? No, it’s not going to be an easy fight.
“It’s going to start as a close fight with a lot of toe-to-toe action and trying to figure each other out,” said Barrera of the Canelo – Plant match. “But as the rounds progress, Canelo is going to be dominating the whole thing.”
The unbeaten Plant could be a very difficult fight for Canelo if his stamina holds out for the full 12 rounds, and it’s possible that it will. When you’re as motivated as Plant is, it’s likely that he trained hard on his cardio during camp so that he wouldn’t run out of gas.
If Plant doesn’t gas out, he’ll be able to move all night long and keep Canelo from landing his shots.
Counter punchers like Canelo need their opposition to be throwing power shots for them to be able to counter. Plant might take that part of his game away from Canelo by using his jab all night.
