Caleb Plant on Canelo Alvarez: ‘I’m not somebody who can be broken’
IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant tells Yahoo Sports' Kevin Iole that he's not worried about the odds against him heading into his unification bout versus Canelo Alvarez on Saturday.
Video Transcript
KEVIN IOLE: Hey, folks. I am Kevin Iole at Yahoo Sports. Big fight on Saturday, for the first time in history, the undisputed Super Middleweight Championship at stake. Canelo Alvarez going up against my next guest, Caleb Plant, a Las Vegas native who has a short drive to the MGM Grand, the IBF champion-- unbeaten IBF champion, I should add. Caleb, 48 hours roughly away, what's the feeling like?
CALEB PLANT: I'm feeling good. You know, I said before that as we get closer to fight night, it doesn't seem like the moment is getting bigger but it's getting smaller. And I'm relaxed, my energy is good, and just waiting for Saturday night.
KEVIN IOLE: That's one of the things I wanted to ask you about. And I wrote about this a little bit today, I talked about, you know, you endured a really tough life coming up, you know, and you lost your mother, you lost your infant daughter. You've had a number of terrible things going on in your life. Do you think that enduring those tragedies has made it easier for you to accept adversity in the boxing ring than, say, an average person who didn't go through those kind of things?
CALEB PLANT: Probably so. I mean, just you know, having to strip myself down and rebuild myself back up after certain things that have happened, you know, eventually, you do that so many times you feel indestructible. And you know yourself, you know-- I mean, down to your bone marrow, you know yourself and you know what you're capable of, and you know whether you can or can't be broken. And I'm not somebody who can be broken.
KEVIN IOLE: Did you ever-- you know, everybody wants to be a world champion when they start. But you know, when you face the things that you faced, you know, the horrors that you've been through, was there ever a time you said, screw it, I'm quitting boxing and just getting away from this?
CALEB PLANT: No. No, there was never a time that I thought about that. I knew that if I quit that it would be like that forever. You know, I knew that my life would be tough forever. I'd have to find some job and stay in the small city that I was in. But I knew that if I kept at it that one day I would be in this position. And I knew that if I just kept my head down and kept working, you know, no matter what, I was going to put myself in this position.
KEVIN IOLE: You know, you're in the position because you hold a world championship. But also because I think, you know, you have a self-belief that not a lot of other fighters have. And I guess, you know, from outside observers, we look at the names on your record and they don't compare to the names on his record. So where does that belief come from? Because you haven't, you know, been in there with the kind of guys, you know, to be fair, that he's been in with. So where does that belief come from given your resume compared to his?
CALEB PLANT: Well, I mean, there's been a lot of guys in my position. You know, a guy who hasn't had the name on his record, and they step up and they fight the guy, and they say the same thing about them that they're saying about me now, right? And then they step up, but they beat them, and they become that guy. So you haven't faced any-- for all fighters, you haven't faced anybody till you face somebody, right?
But I do draw confidence from Jose Uzcategui. He was another guy that I was an underdog against, and on a stroll and knocking everybody out. Considered the boogeyman of the division, considered the hardest puncher in the Super Middleweight division. And you know, I stepped up after a year layoff coming off of a broke hand and no 2-0 fight.
We gave him a 2-0 fight to make sure that we could hold our spot. And I came in after a year layoff, and you see what I did to Jose Uzcategui, and you know, so-- odds are just odds. And as far as resumes go, again, every other big fighter has been in my position. They don't have the big name on their record, they step up and they fight a big name and they beat them and they become the man.
KEVIN IOLE: When you fought Uzcategui, you drop him twice, I think second and fourth round. How did that-- you're off for a year going into that fight-- as you just referenced, you know, he had had a 2-0 fight so he had been kind of back. When you put him on the ground and you're not known as a guy that's a huge puncher, what did that do for your confidence? And did that validate you at that moment, OK, everything I thought about myself I know is true now.
CALEB PLANT: I mean, just as you said, everything I thought about myself is true. And you know, people can say what they want, whether I hit hard or don't hit hard. Almost everybody hits hard at this weight class. So you know, how many times has Jose Uzcategui been dropped in his career? So go ask him if I hit hard.
KEVIN IOLE: I wonder, you know, how do you-- Canelo has been known, especially as he's moved up in weight, as a guy, you know, he kind of works on your body, gets that distance, and then you know, he'll move up to the head. His body attack has been withering. You know, look what he did to Yildirim, you know, Billy Joe Saunders. How do you deal with a guy that goes to the body as hard and as often as he does?
CALEB PLANT: I mean, the only way I could do worse than Yildirim is if my feet were glued to the floor and my hands were glued to my face and I stood there and looked at him Because that's basically about what he did, right? So you know, I don't want to be compared to Yildirim. You know, I know my skill, I know my capability. So you know, as far as me being compared to Yildirim, I mean, that's just completely absurd. Honestly, he couldn't even be [? derailed ?] so--
KEVIN IOLE: Yeah. I wasn't comparing to you, I was just talking about what Canelo had done. You know, when you get into the fight, in the middle of the fight, I mean, do you feel like-- you know, Canelo has proven over time, we've seen him against Golovkin making adjustments in between rounds, even during rounds. Do you feel like that's something that you have the ability to do if things aren't going your way that you'll be able to adjust on the go?
CALEB PLANT: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, if there's one thing that people are giving me credit for is my skill set, my boxing IQ, and to have those. To have those two things on my side, I mean, you've got to be able to make adjustments. And just because-- some fighters can win fights when everything is going smooth, but some fighters don't know how to win a tough fight or to get through a tough moment.
But in the fourth round against Jose Uzcategui in a fight that I was supposed to lose and get knocked out in, I caught a nasty headbutt and got my eye cut open. But I stayed calm, I stay relaxed, and 30 seconds later, I set them down. Again, for a second time on the floor. So I mean, I think that's a testament to my mental durability and just staying confident and calm and relaxed even in a stressful situation. And you know, so I've proven that I can do that.
KEVIN IOLE: Let's wrap it with this. You know, not only are you fighting a guy that's considered the pound for pound best in the world, a lot of people consider his trainer the best trainer in the world. So I wonder if your entire team kind of has an us against the world attitude. You're going in where, you know, do you feel like not only yourself feels like you have something to proof, but your father, and Justin, and everybody else does as well?
CALEB PLANT: No, we don't feel like it's us against the world. It's us against Canelo Alvarez, and it's the best out of 12 rounds, that's what it is. And there's no need to make it any bigger, any more complicated than that because anything other than that is just not factual. So Saturday night, the bell rings, we know what we got to do, we know what the game plan is. And now it's just up to me to go in there and do it.
KEVIN IOLE: Caleb Plant, Saturday night on pay-per-view versus Canelo Alvarez. You can check that out, Super Middleweight Championship. Caleb, good luck, brother.
CALEB PLANT: Thank you.
