Caleb Plant Explains Why He is Fighting Back-to-Back Mandatories

Published 01/30/2021, 4:06 AM EST

The IBF super-middleweight champion will step inside the boxing ring to defend his title yet again. This will mark his third title defense after an 11-month layoff. Plant is keen on getting past Caleb Truax this weekend in order to align himself for a mammoth title unification fight.

In a chat with ESPN Ringside, ‘Sweethands’ unveiled his notions on the mandatory title challenges ahead of a title unification bout.

“Later on in the year, we didn’t want to run into a situation where a big fight could be made, but they wouldn’t waive it because I had a mandatory. We thought that we’d do back-to-back mandatories, which would leave me open and clear a year’s worth of free time to make those big unification fights,” he added.

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Caleb Plant has a plan for 2021:
1️⃣Defeat his mandatory challenger
2️⃣Challenge for the undisputed super middleweight title pic.twitter.com/cfXuwauspf
— ESPN Ringside (@ESPNRingside) January 29, 2021

Plant bagged the title in 2019 after defeating Jose Uzcategui with a unanimous decision. Since then, he has successfully defended it in every ring outing. Post the Saturday night bout, he has eyes set on the bigger picture, which is going for a ‘big’ unification fight.

A win on Saturday night will be extremely vital for Nashville native. If he wins, he’ll sit back and relax, waiting for a unification fight call.

Read – ‘I’m Going to Knock Manny Pacquiao Out’ – Ryan Garcia Puts the Filipino Senator on Notice

Caleb Plant hinting at a Canelo Alvarez fight?

With a win over Callum Smith in December, Saul Alvarez has made long-term plans for staying at the 168-pound division. In his next outing, he will confront Avni Yildirim for his title defense. Post that he’ll challenge Billy Joe Saunders for his WBO super-middleweight strap.

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If Canelo gets past both these opponents, there’ll be only a single fight that would make sense, a bout against Caleb Plant. The duo wants to unify their titles and if Canelo secures wins over his aforementioned opponents, he undeniably will challenge Caleb Plant for his IBF belt.

The probability of this fight going on floors is by the end of 2021. If booked, this will be the biggest opportunity for Plant to unleash his true self in front of the boxing universe. However, nothing is official yet from both their promotions.

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Do you envision Plant beating Canelo Alvarez in a 12-round war?

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Written by:

Prathamesh Singh Chauhan is a Boxing Author at EssentiallySports. He is a graduate from the International Institute of Sports Management who combines his love for sports, particularly combat sports, and his flair for writing and analysis to help him in his day-to-day work. He has prior professional experience with sporting organizations such as Star Sports, Khelo India, and NBA.

Caleb Plant Explains Why He is Fighting Back-to-Back Mandatories

Caleb Plant hinting at a Canelo Alvarez fight?

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