Similar to how MMA’s pound-for-pound king will defend his title when Kamaru Usman defends his welterweight title against Colby Covington for the second time, boxing’s pound-for-pound king will also defend his titles on Saturday when Canelo Alvarez takes on Caleb Plant. Maybe we should just start calling November 6 “pound-for-pound day”
The fight is set to take place at 168 pounds where the winner will become boxing’s first undisputed super middleweight champion. Alvarez is currently the WBA, WBO, and WBC middleweight champion, and he is looking to gain the 4th main belt as Plant is currently the IBF middleweight champion.
Alvarez continues his streak of cleaning house by fighting everyone and anyone, something that has seemingly become less and less common in boxing these days. Many boxers now want to stay within their own promotions and only take on easy fights. Alvarez has become the pound for pound king by fighting anyone and everyone that is put in front of him, and he has actually sought out difficult fights for himself. Plant will be the most difficult challenge he’s faced in a while.
Plant is 21-0 with 12 KOs and is undoubtedly facing his toughest challenge to date. Alvarez is 56-1-2 with 38 KOs.
Normally an Alvarez fight means an insane betting favorite in Alvarez is taking on someone completely overmatched with insane underdog odds. Currently, according to FanDuel, Alvarez is a -1000 favorite with Plant at a +640 underdog. Although that still seems lop-sided, and it is, the reason that analysts have thought that Plant may have more of a chance than some of Alvarez’s past opponents is simply because of his lack of fear. Plant has said that he does not fear Alvarez and won’t simply just bow down to him like some of his other opponents have.
This is a fight that has become personal as well.
When the two faced off at a press event back in late September, Alvarez shoved Plant, which caused Plant to come back swinging at Alvarez before they were broken up. Shots were landed between the two in a scene that is rarely seen at the highest level of boxing.
Canelo and Caleb Plant already getting heated.
That Canelo dodge though 👀
(via @ShowtimeBoxing) pic.twitter.com/GogtBu4fCG
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 21, 2021
While it hasn’t been confirmed, it is assumed that Alvarez and Plant won’t walk for their fight until after UFC 268 has concluded, but again that is only speculation.
Either way, we will have boxing’s first ever undisputed super middleweight champion after Saturday night is over.
The Canelo-Plant fight takes place from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV and is available for purchase through Showtime PPV for $79.99.
