The latest man with the unenviable task of attempting to beat Saul Alvarez is American Caleb Plant.
The two men meet in Vegas in a unification bout, with the winner becoming the first-ever super-middleweight champion in boxing history.
On the line when the two men meet will be all of the belts held by Alvarez. This is the small matter of the WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring champion.
Caleb will bring his IBF world title to the party. Despite holding a world title belt, the Las Vegas Sportsbooks give the American little chance, which is mimicked across all top boxing betting sites.
It doesn’t seem to matter who’s up against Alvarez though, he beats them all! Whether it’s an up-and-coming boxer or an established fighter, the result is the same.
The biggest challenge for Alvarez and his promoters these days is finding a credible opponent.
An opponent that makes the fight sellable and has an element of intrigue – rather than just another guy who Canelo is going to dismantle with ease.
And in Caleb Plant, the holder of the other belt in this division, they may well have a credible opponent.
Matchups in boxing can often have over-hyped bad blood in a vain attempt to sell a fight, but in the case of the rivalry between Saul Alvarez and Caleb Plant, this one seems more genuine.
The journey to the fight has had its fair share of controversy. Billed as the Road To Undisputed the fight nearly didn’t even take place thanks to contract disputes.
When the fight was finally announced there was a scuffle at the first face-off, and now the two fighters are involved in a seemingly constant war of words.
The additional hype will have done the profile of the fight no harm, but will it result in a meaningful contest?
Let’s see if we can find out by having a look at the records of both fighters.
Mexican, Saul Alvarez is in the form of his career.
Alvarez is regarded as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and hasn’t tasted defeat since losing on points to the one and only Floyd Mayweather back in September 2013.
To date, this is the only defeat of his career.
In total, Alvarez has had 59 professional fights across a 16-year professional career. Quite a feat when you consider he is only 31 years old (yes, he turned professional at just 15).
In December 2020 Alvarez returned to the super middleweight division – this after years of chopping and changing.
He started off by defeating Callum Smith to take the English fighter’s WBA title and win the vacant WBC belt.
Canelo then overpowered mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim in February of this year. Moving at breakneck speed, he next beat previously undefeated Billy Joe Saunders in May, taking his WBO title in the process.
Put simply, Canelo has bulldozed his way through the super-middleweight division.
The IBF world-title holder has a far less distinguished career than his illustrious opponent.
In fact, considering there are only two years in age difference, Plant’s record isn’t anything near comparable to that of Alveraz.
Going in Plant’s favor is that he is unbeaten. Also, all his fights have been won convincingly, either by unanimous decision, KO or TKO. But that’s about it.
Despite being unbeaten though, Plant’s record is modest. He won the IBF world title against Jose Uzcategui in January 2019. He has defended the belt three times since.
None of the wins have really been against anybody of note.
Despite the bad blood, this hasn’t influenced the top sportsbooks, who still give the American fighter little chance of victory.
Currently, Caleb is +600 with Bovada to win the biggest fight of his career. As for Alvarez, he is -1000, in what is expected to be a routine night at the office for the Mexican.
I completely expect Alvarez to complete a routine victory against Plant when they meet.
If you are prepared to stake a hundred bucks to win $10, then I do think you are buying money. Maybe use a betting bonus to avoid the unthinkable large loss though.
Elsewhere in group round betting, Alvarez is +340 to win in rounds 1-6. To win in rounds 7-12, the Mexican is +270
Alvarez to win by KO, TKO or DQ is -175 with BetUS. It’s hard to see anything other than that happening.
Only Callum Smith has taken Canelo the distance at this weight, and that was in his first fight back in the division.
Since then Canelo has quickly worked out he has the power to stop opponents at this weight, and I can only see the same outcome here.
So Saul Canelo Alvarez to win by KO, TKO or DQ is my betting pick for this fight.
