By: Hans Themistode
As time slowly ticks off the clock, promoter Eddie Hearn realizes that it would be ideal to begin putting together a financial plan for a matchup between Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant. Hearn is ultimately hoping that he can bring the two together for an undisputed super middleweight showdown this coming September.
Although he hasn’t worked out the numbers just yet, Hearn believes he’s getting close and plans on sending something to Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), the promotional banner Plant is currently under.
“We will make an offer to Caleb Plant through the PBC to do that fight in September,” said Hearn on the Ak & Barak show. “I expect a reciprocal offer for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to do that fight on FOX.”
Alvarez, 30, is fresh off stopping former WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. With another 168-pound world title now safely tucked underneath his arm, Alvarez is just one belt away from becoming the first undisputed super middleweight champion of all time.
While Plant respects Alvarez for his ambitions, he has no intentions of simply handing over his title. The Nashville, Tennessee native easily outpointed long faded former champion, Caleb Truax, in January earlier this year.
Although Hearn is fully expecting a counteroffer from PBC to push their contest off the streaming app DAZN and onto the pay-per-view platform, the longtime promoter believes that isn’t a smart idea. Considering when their matchup would take place, Hearn sincerely believes that placing Alvarez vs. Plant in the middle of a schedule that is currently loaded with pay-per-view matchups simply isn’t the best idea.
“What I’m very concerned about at the moment, is the run of pay-per-view events that are upcoming. I believe that the numbers in terms of pay-per-view buys will start getting massively affected by the saturation in the marketplace of pay-per-views.
“Last night you had a pay-per-view (Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul), next week you have Teofimo (Lopez) against (George) Kambosos on Triller, that’s going to be a tough sell. Then, coming up the week after, you have Gervonta Davis against (Mario) Barrios. Now, as big of a star as Davis is, my goodness is that a tough sell. Then, possibly a couple weeks later, you got (Tyson) Fury against (Deontay) Wilder. Then you’ve got (Manny) Pacquiao against (Errol) Spence three weeks after that. Then one week after that, you’ve got Jake Paul against (Tyron) Woodley. Then a week after that, you want to do Canelo Alvarez against Caleb Plant. I’m very, very concerned about pay-per-view numbers in general.”
