Caleb Plant knows few people are giving him a shot against pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The Mexican champion is too fast. Too strong. Too smart. Some fans have let him know he should be thankful to even share the ring with boxing royalty.
Alvarez’s resume speaks for itself. In 44 career fights, he’s lost just one time — to all-time great Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Sept. 2013 — but otherwise put on a masterclass against many of the sport’s elite.
Canelo boasts victories over fighters like Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, Gennadiy Golovkin, a much bigger Sergey Kovalev and most recently a dominant early finish of Billy Joe Saunders. Plant will be added to that list of defeated foes soon, Alvarez’s fans say. It’s only a matter of time.
But this is boxing, after all. A sport where the unthinkable is realized with a single punch. Ask Buster Douglas. Ask Andy Ruiz Jr. Nothing is set in stone until someone’s hand is raised in the ring, and Plant believes he’ll beat the odds.
Why not me?
“From a young age this is all I did, all I wanted to do. I wanted to be a legendary fighter and world champion,” Plant told The Athletic. “ (Defeating Canelo) would be big. I’ve sacrificed a lot. I’ve dedicated my whole life to this sport. I’m 20 years deep. And with no breaks, no rest, just literally nonstop.
“It would be a huge step in the direction of me planting my flag as one of the best fighters of this generation and moving forward to be one of the greatest
