Canelo versus Caleb Plant is one of the most, if not the most, anticipated showdowns this year in boxing. The two will clash with the undisputed super middleweight title on the line and a chance at becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion.
Canelo is a great body puncher who doesn’t seem to have many weaknesses at this point in his career. He is capable with both hands which is something which should help him a lot in this fight as Plant isn’t. Plant is an orthodox fighter but his left hand is much more developed than his right. He’s creative with his left and can throw a variety of punches with it but with his right hand hes quite limited beyond the occasional punch to keep his opponents honest. I think if Canelo can circle away from the left hand and negate Plant’s biggest asset then he should be able to make easy work of this by throwing in damaging right hooks to the body which should slow Plant later on. For Plant to win he has to win the majority of the early rounds and make Canelo miss and then make him pay for it consistently. He’ll also need to get Canelo’s respect early so he doesn’t just get walked down and avoiding the majority of Canelo’s body shots are his biggest keys to victory. It wouldn’t surprise me if instead of using movement to avoid Plant’s left hand, Canelo decides to target the arm similarly to how he did versus Callum Smith to take away his best punch.
I don’t think Plant will be able to keep Canelo off him for twelve rounds because he doesn’t have a great right hand and Canelo is clever enough to know that Plant’s left hand is the biggest threat. Plant already slows down towards the end of fights but with Canelo’s body shots added in then I think he’ll get tired much quicker. I think Canelo will stop Caleb Plant around the 9th or 10th round. I can see a scenario where Canelo’s low volume of punches leaves him behind late on and Plant manages to survive a late scare to win via decision. While the Saunder’s performance was good from Canelo I didn’t like that he threw so little punches and I think a fast fighter in their prime with good footwork could take advantage of that, Caleb Plant fits the bill but his gas tank is a major worry and that’s why I’ll be picking Canelo.
Boxing Fulcrum 