The subject has come to light once more particularly because IBF 168-pound titleholder Caleb Plant was recently seen getting pointers from Ward in the gym ahead of Plant’s scheduled full unification bout against WBA/WBC/WBO 168-pound champion Alvarez Nov.6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. 18 with Alvarez getting a $40 million guaranteed purse to Plant’s $10 million, plus Alvarez wanted Mexican television rights, a rematch clause that would go into effect if Alvarez lost, and a guaranteed injury replacement if Plant couldn’t fight. Triller’s big splash of the $6 million one-fight signing of undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez has gone astray with a second delay caused by his COVID-19 positive. If he can set-up a fight between Canelo and Golovkin in May of next year, that would be a second major coup for him. Alvarez has stated he wants three or even four fights in total this year, so what's next?
Although Alvarez hinted that he could be interested in as many as three fights this year, it's more likely he returns to the same traditional schedule of May and September fights, which previous PPV kings Floyd Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya set the template for. The British Saunders will bring his own set of fans for the unification bout. Soto is still hurting him and nearly finished him in the sixth round, but he's won over the fans with this effort. “If it’s worth it, if it makes money, it’s one of the fights that would get the fans on their feet. He managed to get rich through sponsorships and other sources of income, but he decided to have a modest lifestyle. Canelo might have gained the self-confidence to fight Smith after his less than impressive showing against John Ryder last November, but that was an odd fight. The IBF super middleweight titleholder, who will attempt to take Alvarez’s three belts and become undisputed champion, told reporters before the Manny Pacquiao-Yordenis Ugas fight on Saturday that many might be shocked when he takes on the biggest star in the sport.
Kambosos (20-10, 10 KOs) is a native Australian and action brawler who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF lightweight titles. Alvarez, boxing's biggest star and one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, is putting his WBC, WBA and The Ring magazine titles on the line while aiming to take Saunders' WBO belt. Undefeated in over eight years, Canelo goes into this fight having successfully defended his WBA (Super), WBC, and The Ring titles against Billy Joe Saunders, and won the WBO strap to top it off. Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez continued his quest for history on Saturday in Texas when he forced Billy Joe Saunders to retire after eight of 12 scheduled rounds to add the Brit's WBO super-middleweight championship to his WBA, WBC and The Ring belts. Billy Joe Saunders main card launches at 8 p.m. Main card: 8 p.m. 9:10 p.m.: We're live for Canelo-Saunders and Kieron Conway is facing Souleymane Cissokho in a super welterweight showdown to kick off the main card. Unfortunately for him, it was too little, too late as Cissokho won a split decision with interesting scores of 95-94, 96-93 and 92-97. The 97-92 score for Conway was incredibly wide but it seems that the right fighter won despite the knockdown.
9:53 p.m.: Well, Conway didn't get the finish but he closed strong. Hopefully the judges get this right. He definitely wins the acting award for tonight but it didn't matter because he was going to lose anyway as the judges had it a 60-54 shutout for Sanchez. Saunders says he isn’t bothered but it looks like he’s acting. A young kid like that, he doesn’t know what he’s getting himself into. Unprofessional kid who lost his belt twice to unprofessional things. It was egregious to stop it at that very moment and disrespectful to Takayama, who was in a title fight and had been hurt far, far worse earlier in it. “It’s gonna be a fight. Xscape VERZUZ battle going on than this fight. He's going to have his hands full with Soto, who has won 16 fights in a row since losing his third professional fight. He also owns lightning-quick hands and excellent footwork to go along with a powerful frame for the 168-pound division at 6-foot-1. What Plant has lacked: top-flight opposition. Evgeny Shvedenko (15-0, 6 KOs) is the IBF’s highest-ranked 168-pound contender. Since obtaining his belt, his next three opponents was a stay busy fight against Mike Lee July of 2019, another stay busy fight against German contender Vincent Feigenbutz who was his mandatory February of 2020, and now another stay busy fight against Caleb Truax.