By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez is planning on fighting for another seven years at the minimum before he hands up his gloves at the age of 38. Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) might change his mind about his seven-year plan if he runs into David Benavidez or Jermall Charlo.
Alvarez has captured division titles in four weight classes, and he’s focusing on winning world titles. He’s got a tough out in front of him in IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant.
If Canelo wins that fight, he could vacate his titles and move up to 175 to try and become the undisputed champion in that weight class.
The Mexican star has spent the last three years of his career slowly becoming the undisputed champion at 169. Still, fortunately for him, Benavidez, the most talented fighter in the weight class, missed weight a year ago was stripped of his WBC title.
Canelo to fight seven or more years
“Seven,” said Canelo to Fighthype when asked how many years he plans on fighting before he retires. “That’s what I want. Maybe more, but that’s what I want, seven more.
“I don’t know,” Canelo said when asked where he believes he stands as being one of the greatest fighters in Mexican boxing history. “I want to do my history, my things.
“Everybody is different. I’m going to try to do my best and be one of the best. Numbers talk. So we’ll see when my career ends,” said Canelo.
It’s impossible for Canelo to accurately predict how many years he has remaining in his career because he could start losing immediately beginning on November 6th.
Alvarez has done well in delaying the process of a career implosion by choosing to unify the belts at 168, which is a weak weight class.
If Canelo gets past Plant, boxing fans will expect him to take on David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo. Those guys could beat Canelo, and that might hasten his retirement.
Canelo vs. Plant brawl helps PPV numbers
“Maybe it just brought more pay-per-view buys for this fight, maybe it did,” said Teddy Atlas in The Fight With Teddy Atlas, speaking about the brawl between Canelo and Caleb Plant in their press conference last week.
“I’m not saying it [the Canelo – Plant] brawl was a put on. It was real. The effect may bring a couple of things.
“One, it may bring a little more pay-per-view because I don’t think it was going to do too big numbers.
“Maybe it’ll help that way. But then again, it might make some people think, ‘Hey, he [Plant] already lost to him, why watch it?’
“Some people will be like, ‘He lost in the press conference. Are we going to watch the fight now? It’s kind of done already.’ You got to give Canelo credit for his reflexes.
“He was ready like you’re supposed to be. He shoved the guy. What did he think he was going to do, bring chocolates back to him? He’s a fighter; he knows what he’s supposed to know.
“Yeah, he’s supposed to be ready. As I said, he shoved the guy [Plant]. What did he think he was going to do, bring him flowers?” said Atlas.
The brawl could help boost the PPV numbers for the Canelo-Plant fight because before they mixed it up, there wasn’t much interest in the fight.
Plant’s weak resume has resulted in him being kept in the dark, fighting lesser guys like Vincent Feigenbutz, Mike Lee, Caleb Plant, and Rogelio Medina.
When you get a promoter that matched their fighters the way Plant has been, you stunt their career in terms of popularity.
But on the flipside, Plant’s promoters have done well to keep him away from the talented fighters in the 168-lb division like David Benavidez, David Morrell Jr., and Callum Smith because he probably would have lost already if he’d fought them.
Will Plant’s cut delay the fight?
“Psychologically, he [Canelo] might have the edge right now, really,” said Atlas. “I’m not in the mind or body of Plant. I like Plant.
“He might have the edge right now, but part of being a pro is to shove that stuff off to the side. That’s part of being a pro. No matter what’s going on around you, a pro isn’t compromised by anything.
“He’s ready to do anything; that’s a pro. So, that’ll be testest with Plant. The other thing, does it delay the fight? He got cut under the eye.
“Does that delay the fight a little bit? They can put a mask on and still do sparring, I’m sure, but do they want to put a mask on because that changes things a little bit. Now you’ve got to wear a mask.
“Your judgment is a little off in slipping punches sometimes, and sometimes you get a false sense of security because your defense isn’t as sharp because you know you have the mask on.
“You can’t judge where the punches are coming because those are things a trainer and I would think about.
“I think about all the consequences and all the collateral damage possibly caused by such a thing. But it [the Canelo vs. Plant brawl] probably brought more interest to this fight,” Atlas said.
Not much has been said about Plant’s cut, but it may get in the way of him sparring. Plant isn’t going to risk his payday by asking for a postponement.
He’s making too much money for the fight, and the last thing he needs is for Canelo to drift away to take on another opponent while he’s recovering from his cut.
Atlas views Plant as another Saunders
“I saw this fight from the beginning just as I saw the Billy Joe Saunders, which I predicted Canelo to win easily and dominate in the end,” said Atlas.
“He did; he stopped him. I know he [Canelo] broke his orbital bone, but he started to dominate and took control and landed the more consequential punches.
“Even before this [Canelo – Plant] happened, I don’t see him being any more competitive than Saunders was as far as the physical match-up of the fight goes.
“Does this change things? It definitely changes the perception of the fans and mentally to the fighters. We’ll see how it influences them, if it does or how it impacts them.
“I did think it was unfortunate because you really don’t want to see that stuff [Canelo and Plant brawling during press conferences].
“They’re going to fight. Nothing could be more macho and manly than fighting. You don’t need anything to be a precursor to it. You don’t need an appetizer for it.
“And you don’t need a first course served before. There’s nothing more tougher than getting in the ring. So that’s where it should be. You don’t need something else to tease it and serve an appetizer.
“The fight could have been off. You could risk the fight, and they should take some attention because they create these things, they put them in face-offs.
“You know these things could happen. It’s not a shock that it happened. And it’s not. It’s happened before.
“It might not escalate to the point where this one did, but sometimes it does. We’ve had brawls at press conferences.
“So they should have been more, the guy that runs Showtime over there [Stephen Espinoza], he should have taken more precaution,” said Atlas about the Canelo vs. Plant press conference.
In some ways, Saunders is a superior fighter than Plant, so there’s a chance that Canelo may have an easier time on November 6th than he did against Billy Joe.
Saunders had the pedigree going for him and the talent to give Canelo issues. It was lucky for Canelo that Saunders was three years past his best when he fought him last May.
