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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JULY 19: IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant holds up his belt during his official weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Plant will defend his title against Mike Lee on July 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JULY 19: IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant holds up his belt during his official weigh-in at MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 19, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Plant will defend his title against Mike Lee on July 20 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
USA Today via Reuters
Dec 19, 2020; San Antonio, TX, USA; Canelo Alvarez (red trunks) celebrates after defeating Callum Smith (white trunks) during their WBA, WBC and Ring Magazine super middleweight championship bout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland/Handout Photo via USA TODAY Sports
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.
Do you envision Plant beating Canelo Alvarez in a 12-round war?
