By: Hans Themistode
From the moment Caleb Plant signed his name on the dotted line, the skeptics came out in droves. Plant, 29, will look to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion of all time when he takes on Canelo Alvarez on November 6th, at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
By and large, Plant has placed his blinders on as he’s ignored the naysayers that are backing Alvarez. But while Plant has mostly turned a deaf ear to his doubters, the words of Mike Tyson have caught his attention.
The former undisputed heavyweight champion has given Plant essentially no chance at pulling off the massive upset. On numerous occasions, Tyson has gone as far as to say Plant is going to get “slaughtered.” Also, Tyson doubts Plant will make it to the final bell.
In the opinion of the current IBF 168 pound champion, brute strength isn’t everything. To further back his claim, Plant rattles off the several shortcomings Tyson had during his Hall of Fame career when he seemingly had the physical advantage.
“He was stronger than “Buster” Douglas but that didn’t help him,” said Plant during an interview with FightHype.com. “He was determined to win. He was stronger than Lennox Lewis, he was stronger than Evander Holyfield but there’s a lot more to winning a fight than just being stronger than somebody. There’s a lot of keys and a lot of factors that go into a fight and not all of it has to do with strength.”
In 1990, with every heavyweight world title draped over his shoulder and as a gargantuan favorite, Tyson stepped into the ring against James “Buster” Douglas. Despite virtually everyone in the world expecting Tyson to get rid of Douglas quick, fast, and in a hurry, Tyson struggled throughout, before succumbing to a jaw-dropping tenth-round stoppage defeat.
In back-to-back fights against Evander Holyfield, Tyson once again strolled to the ring as a considerable favorite but was stopped in both contests, the latter of the disqualification variety. Although Tyson wasn’t the odds on favorite in his contest against Lewis, he was still viewed as having the advantage in physical strength and punching power. None, however, helped him pull off the win as he was stopped in the eighth round.
As a whole, Tyson’s conjecture has left Plant incredulous. While the Nashville, Tennessee, native isn’t known for his knockout power, he does believe he has more than respectable pop in his punches. For those who refuse to believe him, Plant urges his doubters to knock on the door of former titlist Jose Uzcategui, a man Plant sent to the canvas twice during their January 2019 encounter.
“For any people who think that I don’t hit hard, you can ask Jose Uzcategui. How many times has he been sat on his ass?”