During a conversation with Marcos Villegas of Fight Hub TV, former titleholder Chris Algieri shares his thoughts on the upcoming undisputed super middleweight unification fight between Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant, while also weighing-in on why he thinks David Benavidez could be a real problem for Canelo. Check out some of what Algieri had to say below...
Algieri on if Caleb Plant will put up a better fight against Canelo than Bill Joe Saunders
“I think (Plant’s) footwork and rhythm and hand speed will pose more of an issue in the beginning than Saunders...Saunders, the more offensive he is, the better he’ll do but he’ll be at more risk, which is exactly what happened in the fight. If he would’ve just moved around the ring he would’ve lost every round and probably would’ve made it to the end, but who cares? He would’ve lost every single round.
“I think Caleb probably has a better style to fight from the outside and still be able to be competitive, so I think it’ll go more rounds. I’m not necessarily sure if he’ll be more effective, though.”
On Canelo historically having the most difficulty with mobile fighters with a good jab, and if Plant doesn’t fit that bill to give Canelo serious issues
“Anyone who’s a good boxer and has a good jab is a problem for anybody. Again, (Plant) is undefeated, he’s proven — up to this point — he hasn’t fought the same caliber of guys yet. He hasn’t been in a show of this kind of size, he hasn’t been in front of a guy like Canelo. That makes some guys step up and, yeah, on paper he’s got a lot of the tools that can give Canelo an issue, but Canelo’s a different thing now than he was when he fought those other guys who gave him trouble — his jab’s better, he’s way faster. Like he’s gotten faster even though he’s moving up in weight classes, he so much more explosive now.”
On the prevailing belief that David Benavidez is the guy with the best chance to beat Canelo
“Yeah, I like Benavidez a lot. I like the way he fights. He’s a big super middle, and not just big in size, he’s tall, he’s long, he cuts weight, he throws a ton of punches, and he’s got a great jab. I think people forget about his jab because he throws so many combinations, so many punches all the time. Great jab, good body puncher, sets up the left hook to the liver. I was super impressed by his last fight, his last performance against Ronald Ellis who I’ve known for a decade and a half — super tough guy.
“I think Benavidez is a real test, and a monster, and I think his size, his combination punching, and his doggedness — he’s a dog, he’ll take the shots and come forward and I think that’s a real fight.”