He coasted against a timid Caleb Plant.
Canelo became complacent about Plant’s power and walked towards the American during the sixth with his hands by his side, dodging Caleb’s shots via head movement.
Towards the end of the seventh round, Canelo voluntarily rested his back on the ropes trying to goad Plant to attack, but the American refrained, because he seemed fearful of being countered.
Canelo’s body shots clearly took their toll, and it was clear that the Mexican was steering the American around the ring anti-clockwise, with Caleb Plants left rib cage appearing very red, suggesting bruising after being on the receiving end of so many heavy-handed right hooks to the body.
Caleb Plant was valiant, but he appeared fatigued and completely ran out of ideas from the fourth round onwards. He didn’t try to adapt his failing gameplan.
From round four onwards, the bout was fairly easy to score.
Of course, Plant threw more shots, but he was only armed with a pea shooter. And in my mind, throwing lots of feathery light shots will never outscore an opponent equipped with a grenade launcher!
That said, I awarded Caleb Plant two rounds and if I watched the bout again and decided to be generous, I might have even given him a third.
But to be clear, Caleb Plant didn’t “win” the rounds I awarded him, it was more about Canelo’s overly relaxed approach and poor work-rate resulting in the Mexican voluntarily “losing” them.
Canelo looked a little frustrated at times because his awkward opponent was excessively negative-minded.
So, I wasn’t particularly impressed by Canelo’s performance last night. He coasted to victory and did what he needed to do, but the fight was a little too easy for my liking, with the Mexican being a tad lackadaisical.
Don’t get me wrong, unifying the division is a marvellous achievement and competing four times (beating three physically larger undefeated world champions) in less than 10½ months is also a fantastic feat.
However, Canelo looked subpar. And I don’t know if it was because he underestimated Caleb Plant, is tight at the weight or is fatigued after competing too often, but he wasn’t at his best last night.
Perhaps he needs a decent rest, time away from the gym, and also consider making a permanent jump to 175lbs.
Thoughts?
