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Home » In the undisputed era, Canelo Alvarez has to save Caleb Plant clash

In the undisputed era, Canelo Alvarez has to save Caleb Plant clash

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  • 3 min read

Canelo Alvarez saw plans to become undisputed at super-middleweight unravel earlier this week as the Mexican pursues Caleb Plant.

The current pound-for-pound king has one mission in 2021, to take every single belt on offer at 168 pounds.

For a brief moment, the event looked done and dusted on Pay Per View. However, Planet has since cited irreconcilable differences moving forward.

WBN’s Dan Rafael believes the fight is salvageable. And if it doesn’t transpire, Canelo and Plant will only have themselves to blame.

“Talked to one person involved in the Canelo-Plant situation who invoked The Princess Bride movie and termed the fight “mostly dead.”

“But as Billy Crystal’s character said in the film, “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead,” Rafael joked this week.

Also, when making an appearance on Dan Cannobio’s Boxing Podcast, he went into more detail on why he thinks there’s still a chance.

UNDISPUTED

There’s too much at stake for Canelo. Too much kudos and too much glory, which he’s within touching distance of at the moment.

Moving away from Plant would mean moving up in weight and starting all over again when right now he’s almost there and only needs one more title.

Caleb Plant has the biggest payday of his career at stake, also. As they did when Floyd Mayweather ruled the roost, everyone in boxing aims to land that coveted Canelo opportunity.

If he misses out now, there’s every chance that he will never get the chance again. Once Canelo makes another move up, many expect it to be permanent.

Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev would be solid choices at 175. However, Canelo has unfinished business, and everyone involved can leave a run at a higher weight until 2022.

Canelo Alvarez Caleb Plant

The fans would firmly rather see Canelo vs. Plant for the undisputed crown than seeing the four-weight ruler aiming for yet another belt in a division he already conquered.

Joe Smith Jr. vs. Beterbiev would be the fight to make at light-heavyweight this year. The winner would then be primed for Canelo on Cinco De Mayo 2022 for another three straps.

Hopefully, things can work out with Plant. The fight is certainly not out of reach just yet. Canelo has to do all he can to ensure it doesn’t elude him completely.

It is the undisputed era, after all.

Phil Jay is the Editor of WBN. An Auxiliary member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2018. And a member of the Sports Journalists’ Association. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.