By: Hans Themistode
Despite the questions surrounding his overall resume, Caleb Plant’s confidence is through the roof as he prepares for what appears to be the most difficult test of his career.
The IBF super middleweight titleholder is set to defend his crown against unified champion Canelo Alvarez, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 6th. Currently, Plant is pegged as a significant underdog on the night. While Plant has reigned supreme as a world champion for the past two and a half years, Alvarez is widely considered the best fighter in the entire sport.
Regardless of the minuscule number of fans and media pundits picking Plant to emerge victorious, the Nashville Tennessee native urges all who doubt him to simply plunk down their hard-earned money and tune in to witness a once in a lifetime showing.
“On November 6, the world will witness boxing’s first ever crowned undisputed super middleweight champion,” said Plant. “Everyone should order the PPV now and get their popcorn ready, because I’m about to put on a performance that will go down in history as one of the best ever. This man is in trouble.”
Although Plant is oozing with self-belief, most within boxing circles aren’t buying his chances against Alvarez. Since truncating the title reign of Jose Uzcategui in January of 2019, Plant’s level of opposition has gone in the wrong direction. The 29-year-old has made it look incredibly easy against the likes of journeymen Mike Lee and Vincent Feigenbutz, stopping before the sound of the final bell.
Plant would follow those stoppage victories with a recent one-sided unanimous decision win over long-faded former champion, Caleb Truax. In the meanwhile, Alvarez has picked up numerous world titles across that same time period.
After dethroning middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs in May of 2019, and adding his IBF title to his ever-growing collection, Alvarez opted to move up two weight classes to take on WBO light heavyweight champion, Sergey Kovalev. The Mexican star proved that the height, reach and weight advantage of the hard-hitting former titlist, was extraneous as he scored the devastating stoppage victory in the 11th round.
While Alvarez enjoyed success moving up and down weight classes, the Mexican star settled into the super middleweight division in December of 2020. With victories over Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, Alvarez now holds three of the four major world titles in the division. More importantly, as Alvarez continues to stack up wins and add to his championship mantle, the 31-year-old has earned a place as one of the best fighters in the world and is generally considered the face of the entire sport.
With that said, Plant believes that his name will usurp Alvarez as the number one attraction, provided he picks up the victory.
“When my hand is raised in victory, the world will know then, that I’m the new face of boxing.”