Caleb Plant never let life’s challenges knock him down for long. He has no intention of starting now.
The 30-year-old super-middleweight candidate was stopped at 11th placeorder round of Canelo Alvarez last November, the first defeat of his career. He admits the disappointment of losing his biggest game and precious IBF title. Who wouldn’t struggle with that?
The key for him was to learn from it and move forward without adjusting his goals. He still plans to be recognized as a special fighter.
“It’s obviously very difficult,” Plant told Boxing Junkie a week before his return match against Anthony Dirrell on the Deontay Wilder-Robert Helenius pay-per-view card on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.
Canelo Alvarez admits that Caleb Plant (right) let him down for a good part of their fight last year. Joe Camporeale / USA Sports TODAY
“I am the winner, whether it is in the ring or out of the ring. I feel like a winner. I feel like whatever has come my way is something I can get over. …
“I feel some [of Alvarez’s] Past opponents showed up to test. I did not do it. I was there to win. That didn’t happen, so it’s disappointing. With that said, I’m not one to sit around and feel sorry for myself.
“I had a little break then got right back to work with my team.”
Besides, Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) said, he gave him a very good assessment.
Las Vegas-based Tennessean were behind all three official cards after 10 rounds – 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94 – before Alvarez hurt him with a left-right and back hook uppercut combo that ended him. However, Plant, an excellent boxer and athlete, competed until the last minute. That is something that cannot be said about many of Alvarez’s opponents.
It’s something he can build on in an effort to reach his full potential.
“If that’s the highest level of boxing, I feel like I’m close to it,” says Plant, keeping thumb and index an inch apart. “I was caught with a good shot late in the game but until then I think I did very, very well. [That’s] not just myself, but from the rest of the fans… from what I’ve seen them say.
“I just want to keep smoothing the edges of my game, to try to make it a complete game.”
Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) is anything but complacent despite his recent success.
He made $10 million for the match against Alvarez, 140 times what the average American earns in a year. He admits that the event is “good for me” in that sense. However, he said, “That doesn’t work for me.”
And the fact that he has realized a dream shared by all boxers – that of winning a world title – makes him no less hungry than he was before he became a champion. . He is thinking much bigger than that.
“Become a world champion. So rare, is a dream, not a dream,” he said. “The dream is to be one of the greatest of my generation and to be one of the best in boxing. … Just being world champion won’t do it.
“There’s nothing concrete that I’m going to do but keep being the best version of myself I can be, keep fighting big, win big games, be second world champion. times and went on to become the undisputed and undisputed champion.
“It’s still my dream, it’s still my goal.”
One more target: Second shot at Alvarez.
“We all have long-term and short-term goals,” says Plant. “My main goal, very close to this war, is to focus on the battle in front of me. … It’s hard to say what the path will be but it will be to do whatever it takes to get a rematch with Canelo, then pick one top super middleweight at a time. That’s what I want.”
