Caleb Plant: $10M “sounds right” for Canelo Alvarez fight

By Boxing News - 05/20/2021 - Comments

By Dan Ambrose: Caleb Plant says $10 million “sounds about right” as a ballpark figure for him to receive for the proposed undisputed 168-lb championship fight against superstar Canelo Alvarez in September.

Canelo will need to decide soon whether he wants to pay Plant the $10 million that he’s been talking about wanting for the fight. It would be a good idea for Canelo to start looking at a Plan-B option if Plant digs his heels into the sand and refuse to budge from his $10 million asking price.

Canelo can put together two excellent fights against Carlos Gongora and Edgar Berlanga for that kind of money. Those contests would likely bring in far more fan attention than a Canelo vs. Plant fight.

Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), the holder of the IBF super middleweight title, maintains that he’s a bigger name and brings in more views than British fighters Billy Joe Saunders.

Whatever extra views that Plant, 28, brings in from U.S fans are likely more than canceled out from the views Saunders and Callum Smith brought in from their UK fans.

What Saunders and Callum brought to the table was a huge British fanbase in the UK, which arguably dwarfed the fanbase the Plant has in his native Tennessee. Plant isn’t a huge name outside of Tennessee, so you can argue that Saunders and Callum were more valuable to Canelo than him.

Smith and Billy Joe made excellent money in recent fights against Canelo Alvarez, and Plant feels that he deserves more than that due to him being a bigger name in America.

Saunders reportedly made $8 million to fight Canelo on May 8th in a contest that could result in his career being cut short due to a terrible eye injury he suffered.

As for Callum, Smith reportedly made $6 million last December in a one-sided 12 round defeat against Alvarez. Callum with little more than a punching bag for Canelo, choosing to shell up and fight with his back against the ropes for 12 rounds.

Saunders & Smith should have gotten more $$$

“Our team is going to sit down and do whatever it takes to get this thing ironed out,” said Caleb Plant to Secondsout about a fight between him and Canelo.

Image: Caleb Plant: $10M "sounds right" for Canelo Alvarez fight

“I had it 5-3, and that’s one round from being tied up,” Plant said about his thoughts on Canelo’s recent fight against Billy Joe Saunders on May 8th. “But he [Saunders] ran into a big shot, and that was it.

“Going down the list, I’m taller than him, I’m longer than him, I punch harder than him, and I feel like I’m a more dedicated fighter,” said Plant when asked about boxing fans comparing him to Saunders.

“I’m not going to be compared to him [Billy Joe] in those ways because I’m not going to be compared to anybody in those ways,” said Plant in sounding a little annoyed about boxing fans viewing him as Saunders 2.0.

Plant may not like boxing fans viewing him as Saunders 2.0, but the fact of the matter is, his fighting style and lack of power are very similar to his. There’s not much that separates Plant from Saunder apart from him being a little younger and more active.

Like Saunders, Plant is a finesse fighter, who wins his contests by being slick and outsmarting his opposition. Likewise, Plant has a barren resume like Saunders, having no one of note during his career.

“I think they should have gotten more,” said Plant about Billy Joe and Callum Smith for their purses for the Canelo fight.

“I know that Eddie Hearn has been rocking with Callum for a long time. For him to give him a five-week camp, maybe he did try and talk him out of it,” Plant said.

Given the lack of popularity for Callum Smith and Saunders, they did well for themselves to make the kind of money they received for their respective fights against Canelo.

They couldn’t command the $10 million+ purses that Daniel Jacobs and Sergey Kovalev received for their fights against Alvarez because they weren’t big enough names.

“If you’re fighting the #1 fighter in the world, why would you give yourself half the time that calls for a world championship training camp, which is usually eight weeks?” said Plant in harping about one of his popular themes, talking about how much training time he needs to fight a guy like Canelo.

“If you have five weeks, that’s only four weeks of training and one last week of finishing up weight, traveling, and doing what you got to do. You’re not putting yourself into the best position to get the job done,” Plant said.

In Saunders and Callum Smith’s case, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were given 12-week camps. They still would have been hopelessly overmatched against Canelo, which is why it’s silly for Plant to be making a big production about Callum’s five-week camp for the Canelo fight.

Let’s be real. Callum could have had a 56-week camp, and still been rifled by Canelo for 12 rounds. Plant’s preoccupation with training time suggests that he fails to understand that there are levels in boxing.

It doesn’t how much time a fighter has training for an elite-level guy like Canelo. They’re still going to lose unless they have huge power like Gennady Golovkin or Artur Beterbiev. If you’re a finesse-level fighter like Saunders and Caleb Plant, you’re going to be up the creek without a paddle.

Plant says $10 million “sounds right” for Canelo

“I’m not trying to price myself out,” said Plant. “I’m not looking to price myself out of a fight that I want and a fight that I know in my heart that I can win.

Image: Caleb Plant: $10M "sounds right" for Canelo Alvarez fight

“But I also don’t want to get anything less than what I would be owed. When it comes to fighting here over in America, I don’t have a bigger fan base than Canelo does, but I have a bigger fan base over here than Callum and Billy do, and I bring a lot more views than Callum and Billy do.

“I have a great team around me. I don’t think there is any better manager than Al Haymon,” said Plant. “We’re going to sit down here real soon and get things worked out.

“That number $10 million] sounds right or somewhere around there,” said Plant. “What I know best is fighting,” said Plant.

If Canelo wants to pay Plant $10 million, that’s up to him, but he needs to think carefully before he makes that decision. Canelo can get more value for that kind of money if he puts it into setting up fights against Berlanga, Carlos Gongora, David Benavidez, or Dimitry Bivol.

Give Berlanga and Gongora $10 million combined, or pay Benavndiez or Bivol $10 million. The boxing public will get a better product.

“I’m not completely clueless on negotiations, but what I do is fighting. When it comes to fighting, that’s something people can’t tell me about.

“I don’t think it’s a secret that fighting on pay-per-view will bring in a lot more revenue as opposed to fighting on an app [DAZN].

“It would be leaving millions on the table not just for myself, but much more millions for him. I would just wonder why he [Canelo] would want to leave those millions on the table.

“This has been my dream to be an undisputed fighter and be on the pound-for-pound list and cement a legacy in boxing that people can’t erase.

“I know how far I’m willing to go to get my hand raised in that fight. For a fight of this magnitude, I feel that an eight-week camp is only fair,” said Plant.

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