Promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed he is working to salvage the September 18 date for Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez after negotiations with Caleb ‘Sweethands’ Plant ground to a halt.
WBC, WBA and WBO super middleweight champion Alvarez 56-1-2 (38) has made it clear he wants all the belts at 168-pounds with Plant 21-0 (12) holding onto the remaining piece of hardware, the IBF title.
The 31-year-old Alvarez is a promotional free agent with his trainer and manager Eddy Reynoso negotiating the fight on his behalf.
Earlier this week Tennessean Plant, 29, hit out at the progress of negotiations with the proposed date less than eight weeks away.
One of Plant’s key concerns is a clause relating to either fighter suffering an injury before the bout.
“One that is absurd, if I get injured or sick then he gets a late replacement for the same amount of guaranteed money, but if he gets sick or injured, then we gotta wait for him,” Plant told ESPN.
“We’re at seven-and-a-half weeks from the fight; we’ve lost valuable time that should be spent promoting and drug testing for a fight of this magnitude.
“I question whether legacy or money is their real motive. We’ve been waiting for him to get done with his wedding, shooting his TV show, his golf tournament and now have tried to give him everything he wants and more to make this fight.
“I’m more than willing, able and ready to fight Canelo Alvarez on any date. Those are the real facts and if anyone has something to say differently, we have the paperwork to prove it.”
Hearn, who has promoted Alvarez’s last three bouts, has taken a backseat to Reynoso in negotiations for the Plant fight.
“From our side, I’ve been kept up to speed with the situation with Eddy Reynoso and kind of left the lawyers to deal with that fight,” the Matchroom Boxing boss said on the DAZN Boxing Show.
“We know the undisputed fight is one that [Alvarez] wants to make.
“Obviously, it wasn’t able to get over the line for September 18 and now we’ve got to look at either the alternatives or remain working on that fight…
“We’ll see what happens. I spoke to Canelo last night. I spoke to Eddy Reynoso last night. We talked about some other opponents.
“Of course, I’m still sure that there’s some options to pursue in terms of seeing if the Plant fight is possible, perhaps on another date.
“That’s where we’re at right now.”
It is looking increasingly likely that WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol 18-0 (11) will be offered the opportunity to face Alvarez in two months’ time. Alvarez, who started his career at junior welterweight, has fought just once at 175-pounds, an 11th round knockout of WBA champion Sergey Kovalev 34-4-1 (29) in November 2019.
“There’s been some discussions with Dmitry Bivol over the last few weeks, that’s a good fight at light heavyweight,” Hearn said.
“Up at light heavyweight you’ve got [WBO titleholder] Joe Smith Jr, [WBC and IBF champion] Artur Beterbiev, but I think Bivol would be that frontrunner.
“He was certainly a guy that I put forward again last night.”
