It was in November 2021 that an undefeated Caleb Plant lost his IBF super-middleweight title to Mexican icon Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, via a technical knockout in the eleventh round. Though Canelo became undisputed after the win, Plant lost his one and only world title. Since then, he has been on a patchy run, losing one out of his last two fights to David Benavidez. However, the 32-year-old now plans to regain his position in the super-middleweight division again, calling his comeback the “revenge tour”.
Surprisingly, Plant hasn’t ruled out a rematch with Canelo Alvarez. ‘Sweethands’ feels that he is “worthy” enough to deserve another title shot against the Mexican icon. Plant also stated that it was a close matchup until the knockout in the eleventh round during their first encounter.
Who knows how likely it is [I’ll get a Canelo rematch], but I feel that it’s worthy, especially since we had a competitive fight the first time. It was probably 6-4 the first time going into the 11th. I feel like it’s worthy,” Plant said during an interview with BoxingScene.
However, the former super-middleweight champion has enough pride not to “beg” for that fight. With Benavidez and David Morrell moving up to the light-heavyweight division, Plant is placed nicely alongside Jermall Charlo, Diego Pacheco, and Christian Mbilli to become one of the prospective dance partners for a fight with Canelo in the future.
Notably, Caleb Plant will be going up against Trevor McCumby next on the undercard of the Canelo Alvarez-Edgar Berlanga main event on September 14. “With us getting moved to the Canelo card, it could spark those conversations for a rematch,” Plant stated. He emphasized that a potential rematch with Canelo wouldn’t just be for the paycheck but for his unwavering drive to compete against the best in the division. “It doesn’t matter where they put me. They can put me in the parking lot and we can fight. As you know, I’m not just in it to get a payday. I’m coming to fight,” Plant stated boldly.
Furthermore, the Tennessee native also gave another reason as to why Canelo Alvarez might be interested in fighting him again.
Not too bad at selling a fight!
Canelo has made it very clear that at this stage of his career, massive paychecks and a good show are the only things that motivate him to keep fighting. Case in point — he has turned down risky fights against elite contenders like David Benavidez and Terence Crawford by pricing himself out. Safe to say, the more dangerous the fight, the higher the price Canelo goes for.
On that note, explaining why Alvarez should be fighting him, Plant stated that their first matchup fetched a lot of PPV buys, and guarantees that the success would be repeated if they were to have a rematch. He said that his fight against Alvarez in 2021 had 800,000 buys, which he claimed was better than the numbers ‘Cinnamon’ got fighting certain big names in boxing.
“He didn’t do that against Gennady Golovkin, Dmitry Bivol, or Jermell Charlo. We’ve done some good numbers, and I feel that I’m a good sell in boxing. I have a big fan base and a lot of people tune in to watch me fight,” he stated.
With Canelo Alvarez not eager to fight tough competitors like David Benavidez, and Terence Crawford, it seems he is looking for less tougher, big-money fights at the age of thirty-four. Therefore, the question is: Does Canelo Alvarez think that Caleb Plant is threatening enough to put a loss on his record? If so, he might avoid it, otherwise, Plant fits the category of a sellable fight that fans would like to watch.
