Canelo vs Plant: Talks reportedly collapse at eleventh hour

Welp, so much for 2021’s next big undisputed title fight. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reports that talks between WBC/WBO/WBA super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and IBF titlist Caleb Plant have collapsed over “disagreements in the contract.” Coppinger does not specify the nature of those disagreements, merely saying that while the matchup could theoretically be salvaged, “time is running out” to keep Alvarez’s preferred date of September 18th.

Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KO) is a promotional free agent, while Plant (21-0, 12 KO) fights for Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions. The plan was to stage the event on Fox pay-per-view, but now it looks as though Haymon will leave empty-handed.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Alvarez has reportedly tabbed WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol as a Plan B. Alvarez’s friendly relationship with Matchroom Boxing theoretically makes for easy negotiations, and while it won’t have as much hardware at stake, that figures to be a much more compelling matchup.

Probably cheaper to watch, too, since it would almost certainly land on DAZN instead of PPV.

Whatever the case, we’ll keep you appraised as the situation develops.