Caleb Plant vs Canelo Álvarez: Tale of the Tape

The unified WBA/WBC/WBO Super Middleweight World Champion Canelo Álvarez squares off with undefeated IBF Super Middleweight World Champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant on Saturday, on SHOWTIME PPV from the #MGMGrandGardenArena in #LasVegas.. Let’s break it down. #CalebPlant 29 years old he’s 6’1” with a 74” reach and a record of 21-0 with 12 knockouts. From Ashland city Tennessee Plant began boxing at the age of 8 and by 19 became the National Golden gloves champion and an alternate for the 2012 Summer Olympics. After amassing an amateur record of 97-20 he turned pro in May of 2014 with a first round knockout of Travis Davidson. Over the next 3 years he went 15-0 with 10 knockouts before making his first real step up in competition when he completely dominated Andrew Hernandez winning all ten rounds on the judges scorecards after which he found himself ranked 6th by the IBF. Next he defeated the number twelve ranked Rogelio Medina using his superior jab and ring IQ to win another lopsided decision and 11 months later was given a shot at the title against IBF champion Jose Uzcategui. In yet another dominant display Plant used his footwork and jab to completely overwhelm the champ dropping him twice, once in the second round and once in the fourth to claim the title by a wide unanimous decision. In his first title defense he blew out challenger Mike Lee, dropping him just 37 seconds into the first round and 3 more times in the third to score a technical knockout and 7 months later destroyed the number 3 contender Vincent Feigenbutz, battering him throughout en route to a 10th round stoppage. On January 30, 2021 he put on another masterclass against former IBF title holder #CalebTruax controlling the former champion from a distance with his jab and ring generalship with all three judges scoring it 120-108. A highly technical counter puncher Plant likes to fight out of a philly shell utilizing his quick jab and excellent footwork to control the distance and set up his power shots. #CaneloAlvarez 31 years old he’s 5’9” with a 70.5” reach and a record of 56-1-2 with 38 knockouts. From Guadalajara Mexico he followed his older brothers into boxing at the age of 13 going on to medal in several Mexican junior national championships and finishing his amateur career with a record of 44-2 with 12 knockouts. He turned pro at 15 with a 4th round knockout and went 32-0-1 before gaining his first real exposure knocking out #JoseCotto on the Mayweather vs Mosley undercard. In his next fight he won the WBC silver Junior middleweight belt with a 6th round knockout of Luciano Cuello and followed that up with a brutal left hook knockout of former welterweight champion #CarlosBaldomir. He then won the vacant #WBC regular belt from #MatthewHatton and defended it 5 times before adding the WBA belt with a unanimous decision over Austin Trout in 2013. In his next fight he lost his belts via majority decision to Floyd Mayweather but quickly bounced back, tearing through the Junior middleweight division with knockouts of Alfredo Angulo, and James Kirkland before defeating #MiguelCotto by decision for the WBC middleweight title. After knocking out #AmirKhan with a thunderous right cross and following that up with one sided beatdowns of Liam Smith and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. he took on #GennadyGolovkin in an attempt to unify the middleweight division. After 12 intense but evenly matched rounds the fight was ruled a draw and when the pair re-matched the following year it was much of the same with Alvarez pulling out a close majority decision. Unable to unify the middleweight division he set his sights on super middleweight knocking out Rocky Fielding with a body shot and after briefly moving up to light heavyweight to knockout #SergeiKovalev for the WBO belt he dropped back down to super middle to win the WBA and WBC belts with a unanimous decision over #CallumSmith. On May. 8, 2021 he added the WBO belt with an eighth round beat down of champion Billy Joe Saunders, putting on a masterful performance and fracturing his orbital bone before Saunders’ team threw in the towel. A defensive specialist with exceptional head movement and footwork, Alvarez also possesses phenomenal power and is among the finest counter punchers in the sport and is widely regarded as one of the pound for pound greatest fighters in the world. Can #Sweethands use his jab and size advantage to keep Alvarez at bay or will Canelo’s power and ring IQ be too much to overcome as he vies to become the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history? Tune in Saturday night and let’s find out