SPORTS SHORTS 255: CANELO ÁLVAREZ VS. CALEB PLANT WINNER WILL BECOME THE FIRST UNDISPUTED SUPERMIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPION IN HISTORY AND THE SIXTH FULLY UNIFIED CHAMPION IN THE FOUR BELT ERA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sat, 06 Nov 2021
Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant, billed as "Road to Undisputed" is a super middleweight unification match between WBA (Super), WBC, WBO and The Ring champion, Canelo Álvarez and IBF champion, Caleb Plant, with the winner destined to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history.
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The fight is scheduled at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on November 6, 2021. The winner of their fight also can become just the sixth fully unified champion in any division during boxing’s four-belt era.
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The victor will join retired middleweights Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, junior welterweights Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor and cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk as the only boxers to have earned the honor.
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The Caesars Sportsbook shows the 31-year-old Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) a 9-1 favorite to beat the 29-year-old Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) of Ashland City, Tennessee.
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Canelo and Plant were barred from getting closer together during their last press conference in Las Vegas. Both fighters exchanged insults and clashed during their first face-off in September when a vicious brawl erupted leaving Plant with a nasty cut below his eye.
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Both champions were much more calm Wednesday at MGM Grand, where they held their last press conference before their 12-round, super middleweight title unification fight Saturday night.
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They weren’t allowed to pose face to face because their camps were worried that another physical hostilities would happen just three days before their scheduled match in a Showtime pay-per-view main event.
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Though there was much less drama this time around, the unbeaten Plant directly delivered a message to the Mexican superstar when it was his turn to speak.
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“Not much time left and really not much left to say, so I’m gonna keep it short and sweet,” Plant said. “Leading up to this fight, Canelo said that Mexicans don’t f--- around. Well, that’s good to know because where I’m from, we don’t f--- around neither."
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"So, Saturday night, make sure you tune in. You’ll be seeing the first undisputed super middleweight [champion] of all time. This is history and you’re looking at him, and his name is Caleb Plant.”
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“I’ve faced many good fighters with skills that are similar to Caleb," Canelo said. "It’s a style that I’ve seen before and I know what to do with it. That just gives me confidence in my experience heading into this fight."
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“I always train 100% my hardest and for the style of my opponent. I like that idea that Caleb is coming in believing he will win this fight. It’s going to make it more exciting for the fans. The goal is to be an all-time great. I’m so proud of the journey I’ve taken to achieve that. I’m not going to stop until I’ve tried my best to reach that goal."
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Terence "Bud" Crawford suggested that Caleb "Sweethands" Plant should study how Gennadiy "GGG" Golovkin fought Canelo Alvarez in their first fight in 2017 and imitate some of the techniques he did in order to beat the Mexican unified champion.
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“It’s going to be a good fight. I’m excited to see it,” said Terence Crawford over Fight Hub TV. “I’m excited to see what Caleb Plant does.
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“If he’s going to come in there and stand in front of Canelo. I think that would be a bad game plan. I think that he should utilize his skills and look at the GGG first fight and take bits and pieces of that fight and put it in his arsenal,” said Crawford.
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“We have fought so many different kinds of champions. There is not much left to say about Canelo’s career. On Saturday, everyone is going to witness the first ever Mexican undisputed world champion," said Eddy Reynoso, Canelo’s trainer and manager.
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“We still have 12 rounds of boxing to put in. At the end of those 12 rounds, I have no doubt whose hand will be raised. It will be Caleb Plant, the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history," said Justin Gamber, Plant’s co-trainer.
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Had the Los Angeles Lakers managed to preserve their two big leads against the Oklahoma City Thunder (26 point lead on the road last week and up 19 points at Staples Center on Thursday night) they would be sporting a pretty 7-2 record and OKC would be winless at 0-8.
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But the Thunder outpointed the Lakers 35-24 in the fourth quarter and won the game, 107-104 Thursday for their second come-from-behind win against Lakers who are dissecting about what happened.
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Jordan Clarkson came off the bench to sank a season-high 30 points to lead the visiting Utah Jazz to their third straight victory, 116-98 over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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