‘I WILL FIGHT CANELO’

THE vultures came out in force for Caleb Plant’s head in February.

Fresh from the second successful defence of his IBF super-middleweight title, a 10th round stoppage of Vincent Feigenbutz, the Tennessee native wanted to take a little time to recharge his batteries and simply get away from the sport for a bit. It was an understandable request, but not to the fans and pundits who then trashed him when it was rumoured he was going to be offered a May 2 bout with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

Plant wasn’t interested. Not with a shortened camp, not right after a fight, not even if it was going to be the most lucrative bout of his career. For him, to take a fight like that, he wanted to give himself the best possible chance to win, even if a loss would have been easily excused by matters such as the relative short notice and less than ideal training conditions.

“I’m in this to. “I could have taken the fight and things would have happened where nobody would have blinked an eye, but I would have blinked an eye because I would have known that I took the fight for the money. The fans today, they get so mad when they say, ‘Oh, he’s just in it for the money, he’s just in it for the fame.’ Then they get a fighter like me, who’s not in it for the fame and not just in it for the money, who cares about being great, who cares about legacy, who cares about pride and respect, and then they don’t like that either.”