MORNING KOMBAT WITH LUKE THOMAS AND BRIAN CAMPBELL - 🚨 Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant Instant Reaction

Episode Date: November 7, 2021

Luke Thomas and Brian Campbell are here with an instant reaction to Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant. Who will become the first undisputed super middleweight champion? Morning Kombat’ is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Bullhorn and wherever else you listen to podcasts.    For more Combat Sports coverage subscribe here: youtube.com/MorningKombat   Follow our hosts on Twitter: @BCampbellCBS, @lthomasnews, @MorningKombat    For Morning Kombat gear visit:morning kombat.store   Follow our hosts on Instagram: @BrianCampbell, @lukethomasnews, @MorningKombat  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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He might be the king of all of boxing. Hello, everyone. Luke Thomas, Brian Campbell, live from you right now at the MGM, just outside, I should say, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. We are here for our Canelo Plant post-fight show. We have not a moment to waste because right behind us is where the post-fight presser is going to be, and we've got to be done before they get up there. Well, you said Canelo might be the king of the sport. He

was coming in. He still is after this performance. I thought Caleb Plant did what he said he was going to do from the standpoint of not winning, but I thought he overachieved. I thought he proved a tough out. He was game. He was durable. He was smart. His defense was there. I thought when

Canelo Alvarez in the second half of this fight had a couple rounds where he took his foot off the gas, that's when Caleb Plant slid. And I thought that his best worker gave him three straight rounds on the scorecard. But the finish, Luke, which was just off of what you and I both predicted of a 10th round stoppage, instead an 11th round one. The finish and what led up to that was vintage Canelo. The pound for pound best fighter in the game. The biggest star in the game. And as he continues to stockpile championship belts in this historic night, in which he's the first undisputed champion at super middleweight in boxing history and the first Mexican-born

fighter to become an undisputed champion, it's really only going to be what's the next milestone. Are you going for recognition as the greatest Mexican fighter of all time? Are you trying to crack the top ten all time? I mean, he is getting to levels, Luke, where this is rarefied air. I don't think the conversations about Canelo and Chavez are, they need to change. If you didn't have Canelo high enough on this list where you could either put him on par or potentially even passing Chavez, and I know he's a legend, I know that's debatable,

I understand it's not an ironclad thing, but with a win like this tonight, he moves into territory where if you wanted to, if you wanted to declare him the best Mexican fighter of all time, I actually don't think you'd be all that wrong. No. Before we get to that, though, I really want to talk about this fight. So let's get to it. CompuBox stats, by the way, let's get them. These are the final ones from the fight. Canelo Alvarez landing 32% of total punches. He landed 14% of his jabs, 41% 102 power shots. For Caleb Plant, the numbers are not great. Just 13 shots to the body. He had 42 jabs. That seemed to be his best punch all night. There's two key numbers, though. It's the overall punch total in Canelo's favor, which was what?

Actually, the overall total attempted. You mean landed. I mean landed. Yeah, 117 to 101. In favor of Canelo, and the second one is body shots, which really was the story of the fight for Canelo, as it often is. I believe it was about 53 to 13, the total favor there. Two knockdowns. He had double the power shots of Caleb Plant. Two knockdowns in round 11 to wave it off, and I do want to start there, Luke, because we are short on time. Was the second knockdown, in which referee Russell Moore, who had a great night and is coming off that nice Fury Wilder 3, he stops

that without a count. I've already seen debate on Twitter. In real time, it looked to me like Plant deserved a chance to beat that 10 count because even though he was fading, he was hurt from the previous knockdown. This is the fight of his career. This is his mountaintop moment. What did you think about this? I have a little bit of mixed feelings. On the one hand we don't know exactly what Russell Mora saw. We've not had a chance to talk to him. He may have seen something up close that would have given him a reason to call the fight off in the way that he did. So that's the first thing I would say. But if you're wondering the scores at the time, I have them in front of me. 98-92 for Canelo

97-93 for Canelo and 96-94. So a closer one because we saw scores all over the map on Twitter for this fight. How I had it, Luke, 7 rounds to 3, 97-93 for Canelo entering that final round. Now those two knockdowns led to the finish and they also would have changed the scoring dramatically, but where did you have it entering into that final round? I had it 97-93. I think that's about how you had it as well.

We probably had a few different ones along the way. We had a different way of getting there. I scored the first six to Canelo, and God bless all you people on Twitter who are ready to take away my credentials. But look, here's the real reason, not only why Canelo won this fight, but why he got all six on my card when Plant did look game in that first half. It's because he does not give you a clean strike zone defensively. For as great as Canelo is as a body puncher, as a destroyer,

as an efficient counter puncher who walks you down and never wastes punches, he does not get hit clean in return. So if you're scoring those early rounds for Plant, and I saw Steve Farah on the show telling me he does an incredible job, gave Plant one and three. What are you scoring is really what I'm asking. A couple counterjabs here and there. Everything Canelo landed was heavy, and Luke, for the most part, it was clean. And this is the other part about, too, with Canelo. You couldn't think it's this fight or another fight or the third. I cannot tell you how many times he gets, let's say,

numerically outstruck in a round, but when he lands, as a viewer on television, it is audibly much louder, the damage that he is scoring, and that's imprecise as a way of measurement, too. But when you see it consistently with his opponents over the course of his career, that's why I think a lot of judges sometimes have different scores than what the fans have at home, because they're feeling and hearing those power shots landing over a way they just don't quite get the same feel for it. And I want to piggyback what you just said and say this. I got a lot of feedback of saying, look, maybe you should re-examine. You're going to re-watch those rounds and want to give them to

Plant. His defense was sound. He wasn't getting hit clean. I think the difference when you have a power puncher against a jabber is, even if Canelo's not landing clean with those hard body shots and the big hooks, as we saw against Calum Smith, they're still doing damage. When Plant was getting blocked by Canelo's high guard, which was on point, he's not really landing much on there. In person, judges prefer fighter coming forward, which was Canelo for the most part throughout. Almost from round one on, actually from round one on. The fighter landing the heavier blows, which is why Canelo wins a lot of these close fights because he's so efficient. When you add that efficiency, Luke,

that overall punch efficiency where you're never wasting, yet you're still the guy coming forward, putting stress on the opponent by getting inside and standing right there, it's hard not to score those rounds for Canelo. Right. Dude, here's the thing about, I saw some people had, like, I saw one scorecard that heading to the 11th,

they had Plant up seven rounds to three. That's a ridiculously stupid scorecard. There's a lot of unqualified scores. People think journalists are unqualified scorers, and I respect the judges, by the way. If you had seven-three heading into the 11th, delete your account. But aside from that, here's the thing I wanted to point out. Why did Canelo win this?

The body punching and the overall power punching obviously played a role. But the true fact of it is, did Caleb Plant do a defensively good job at limiting Canelo in key spots and over the course of rounds without him being to land, like I say, a huge demonstrative punch to the head, for example? Yes, he did. There was times you could see Caleb Plant catching the glove of Canelo, then turning, knowing that Canelo couldn't mount significant offense from those moments. He did a good job of diffusing a lot of potentially hairy situations, even getting pressed along the ropes from the first. But I go back to it. What was the most memorable punch that Caleb Plant landed all fight? Right. You can't tell me. It doesn't exist. He did do good work with the jab, but he could

never get Canelo to second guess. He could never get Canelo to get off of him. And so Canelo had to take his time to invest to the body. And he did. I love the framing he was doing off the bending of the waist from Caleb Plant. But there was one guy doing damage and it was Canelo Alvarez and eventually it was just too much. And then he follows me with, hey BC, didn't you score those early close rounds for Austin Trout back in 2013 for jabbing against Canelo? It was a different Canelo. A guy who didn't fight all three minutes of every round, wasn't as efficient, wasn't as aggressive. What we saw tonight was full mature in his prime 31-year-old pound-for-pound King Canelo, who Luke, in round one, made the kind of adjustment that he typically makes mid-fight to

begin putting the fight away, and that adjustment was his ability to get inside on plant. That adjustment was after he figured out, okay, this guy's got a longer jab, he's got speed. How do I then work my footwork to start cutting off his angles and pinning him in the corner? I thought once Canelo Alvarez did that effectively in round one, it was going to be a short night. So this is why you give Plant the credit.

Not just the survival, the toughness, but his own defense. And specifically, Luke, that window around six through nine, I think Canelo thought he would have had him out of there by then. Got a little frustrated. Got a little tired. Took his foot off the gas just enough. I think Plant did well in round 6 through 9, in which I scored all three from him. Really got creative.

Landed a lot of key counter shots. 6 through 9 would be four rounds. 6, 7, 8, 9. Oh, sorry. 7, 8, 9. Excuse me. 7, 8, 9. And I thought it was because of those short little counter jabs.

He was going to the body himself. But once Canelo came out of that corner for round 10, it seemed like he came out with a different spirit and a different attitude. And he started coming after Plant. And when he was in forward motion, Plant had nothing on that. And also, Plant standing from this stance, right? So with the lead hand with the left right behind him here, that short space on the back was pink

from the first round. And he was throwing, what were those Maidana punches in the Mayweather fight? Corkscrew. Corkscrew punches. Did you not see something similar from Canelo in this fight? I did. Where you would get the bending, he would frame, and then you would see him raise the elbow and then drive it at a certain angle. Dude, he and Eddie Reynoso,

we have to talk about it. Yes. They game plan so effectively that they barely have to deviate from the plan. Halfway through that fight, Eddie's like, just stick to the plan because the plan is so good. And what is the plan? The plan is just touch him with hard counter shots. Don't overextend. Be patient, but be firm and cut off the ring and you will wear him down. That's exactly what happened. And why would you do a corkscrew punch? Because when you got a Mayweather or a Plant, who you know has responsible defense,

even while against the ropes, they're not going to give you those openings. So Canelo, to his creativity, found some other angles to do that. That started messing with Plant's guard. But there's really no comparison in the work. I give Plant the credit. I was the Plant guy, more or less, who said, look, he's not going to be a lamb at the slaughter. He's going to have a shot in this fight. He didn't do it again in the ways I thought. I thought he would have to build a big lead to be in this fight. He had a nice mid-fight rally. He was in there. But when you never land anything of significance and you don't have any ultra clear rounds. He had rounds, whether you were like Farhood, you liked him in one and three, or whether you were like me and you liked him in

7 through 9. Luke, he had arguments for rounds, but when you don't have clean, clear, dominant rounds, even if it's just dominance with a jab, you're not going to beat this guy, Luke. You're just not going to do it. I gave Plant round 3. I gave him round 7, and I gave him

round 9. So those are the 3 that I gave him. Again, some of them were round nine. So those are the three that I gave him. Again, some of them were close. There could have been other ones you gave Plant. There could have been those that I gave to Plant you could have given to Canelo. Some of them were a little bit tight, but I just go back to it. The problem that Plant faced ultimately was not that he wasn't defensively sound. He actually pretty much was.

I will also give Plant credit here. Dude, there was a lot of that fight. He had to spend fighting Canelo right here. And I thought if he fought him in those ranges, it would be over quick. And eventually it was. But I'll give Plant credit, dude. He is going to beat other good fighters after tonight. Only 29 years old, and he stood in the pocket for long periods of time, and he made Canelo miss a fair bit. I give him credit for that. He went to the shoulder roll. He went to the Floyd, you know, the Philly shell a little bit there. The Philly shell shoulder roll in those rounds that I liked him. I think Plant elevated his game at the end of the day. You're not going to beat this version of Canelo

right now, but Plant wants that blood fight of his own against David Benavidez. We got Anthony Durrell who had a huge knockout in the school main event against a journeyman opponent, but he went in there and cleaned up in the fourth round who said, look, I want the winner. He could even get the loser, and that'd be an interesting fight. All I'm saying is there are hungry names here. Caleb Plant's probably going to end up winning a title again in this division. He seems to have that championship grit and backbone, as you hear. They're going to get things going behind us. We might have to go.

What about Canelo's future? He didn't bite down on anything afterwards when Jim Gray asked him, said, look, I've got to go home and rest. Do you think he's more likely to continue this incredible run? And by the way, this is his fourth fight in 12 months, unified the titles in one year. Do you think he goes to 75 and chases the title holders, which are Joe Smith, B-Vol, and Berturbiev? Or does he look around 68 and say, I could do Jamal

Charlo, I could do Triple G a third time, I could do... Who else are we forgetting right here? Benavidez. Here's the thing. Canelo signed a one-fight deal with Showtime and PBC for this fight. So he's a free agent again.

Eddie Hearn was at the weigh-ins yesterday. I would imagine he was at the fights tonight. He's got a great relationship with them. Obviously, he has a great relationship with Showtime and Steven Espinosa and some of the folks there. So partly it's going to depend on where he wants to go to find which fighters. And also, like, I'm with you on the weight class. He could stick around and take that Charlo fight, those Benavidez fights. And those are, certainly in the case of Benavidez, I think Benavidez can beat him.

I don't know if he would beat him, but he is somebody you would put on the list of like, that's a tough fight for anybody, including Canelo. At the same time, he and his trainer prior to tonight, you know as well as I do, they had thrown out the Baterbia, or Beterbie, however you want to pronounce it, fight previously. We've talked to other journos here in the week, and they're like, that fight would be great, but it doesn't make sense. So I don't really know. They took some time off, but I'll just say personally, personally, it's the better beef, the Baterbiev fight.

That's the one that I want to see at 175. There's so little financial or marketable reward for him in Canelo. Now, the reward is Baterbiev's a quasi pound-for-pound guy. He's unbeaten 16-0, 16 first-round KOs, and he's got critical respect, right? No question about it. And he's a killer and all that stuff. But he wouldn't get the money.

That pay-per-view, it would sell on the same par with some less skilled and decorated challengers, no question. But this is who Canelo has become. He's going to do whatever he wants. If he wants to fight four or five times a year, he's going to do it. If he wants to network shop, he's going to do it. If he wants to fight Triple G just to please the fans and cash the money against an aging guy to settle that rivalry, he's going to do exactly what he wants.

And with membership comes that privilege. He holds all the cards. All of them. All of them. And the fact that he was able to take this fight and this past year and do what he does. Again, this is old school. This is what we need in this sport. It's really hard to throw shots at him just like in this performance tonight. I mean, what shots am I going to throw? He took a little off the gas for three straight rounds as he sort of figured out his angles and once he put that in finishing mode in round 10, you saw what happened. That power will break you down. You're not seeing Canelo get a ton of one punch finishes, but he'll

break you the hell down. It wasn't the exact same punch, but it was pretty similar. The punch that broke Billy Joe Saunders' face is nearly, not the same, but nearly identical to the right hand in this one that really hurt Caleb Plant. And that may not have been a one-punch finish against Saunders, but it changed the fight for good. It shattered his shit, and it had Caleb Plant on skates. And then again, he did one-punch Kovalev. He did one did one punch Liam Smith, a junior middleweight with the body shot. We know that for him to be able to operate at such close range and not get hit, not waste punches against a

game, fast, smart, tough. We will not accept Caleb Plant's slander at this table. He showed out. He came out and went for it. Can you say he wasn't prepared? Can you say he didn't try? You can't say he obviously executed the perfect game plan or anything, but he certainly was not a... He was there to win. He was there to win. Canelo had him figured out in round one, and he still hung in there and got on at least one judge's scorecards, what, four rounds?

The other two got a few. Five, actually, I think, right? One over people on Twitter. This was a strong performance that he will build off of, no question. And again, shout out to the dog, Anthony Durrell at 37. Turn him back the clock there, getting that uppercut finish. So I have to ask you, I have to ask you, because they asked me this. I did CBS Sports HQ right before this.

And they said, where does Canelo rank all time among great Mexican fighters? And listen, I understand you're talking about different eras. You're talking about, in many cases, different sizes. Whether you own a bustling hair salon, a painting company that just landed a big job, or the hottest new bakery in town, you need business insurance that can keep up with your evolving needs. With flexible coverage options from TD Insurance, you only pay for what you need.

Get a quote in minutes from TD Insurance today. TD, ready for you. But I just think with Canelo being consistently pound for pound, unifying the weight class, which no other Mexican fighter has done. Granted, it's 168. It's a little bit newer. Four belt error, the whole thing. Still, dude, with what he is accomplishing, my argument was, even if you don't want to give it to him now, because

let's say Chavez had a much longer reign of whatever he was doing with his body of work. Dude, Canelo's 31. Like, even if this doesn't get him that, he still has several years in his prime. It seems almost inevitable he will be number one. And he's been on top in

big fights for like a decade. He was 23 when he fought Floyd. That was eight years ago. If he's not already past Chavez, and look, Chavez is a tough situation. It's a tough hill to climb because he's got the everyone has that love for the warrior.

He went out there and who else goes? Was he 89 0-1 at that point? His highest point. I know he beat Everyone has that love for the warrior. And he went out there. And who else goes? Who was he? Marquez, you could put there, too. Was he 89-0-1 at that point? I thought his highest point. I know that he beat cab drivers in between. But he's a folk hero. He did big things. But he didn't do exactly what Canelo's doing.

Canelo was also the biggest star in the sport globally, something Chavez never really got to. And he's also winning titles in multiple divisions and unifying in multiple divisions. Now, undisputed in this division. If he ends up moving up to 75 and makes a run at all of those title holders...

Because he was down on the cards against Kovalev before he won. That should not be lost in this conversation. You're going to end up, like we did at the end of the Mayweather-Pacquiao era, just sort of say, what do we do with these guys? Are they top 10? Are they top 15 at worst all time? You know, it's hard.

Boxing's a difficult sport to compare the old eras. Now they were much busier back then and there's more titles today, all that. But he's going down a lane that is already rare, rarefied air. And he's just going to continue to add on to that. And until we see some hiccups out of him in this version, we saw close fights on the old

version of canelo 154 160 we've talked about him at nauseam did you score this one to canelo or did you like lara since he moved up to this weight class we don't see close fights no he's an absolute destroyer because his power carries his chin is rock solid and he's getting smarter by the day and that's eddie renault so we got to give him a tip of the hat. Yeah, no doubt about it. The two together are a potent force. And I would also add, when you think about what he's done at this weight class, show me the guy who wrote the blueprint on how to beat him. This whole week, for example, we've been talking about, oh, well, Canelo, he's sort of struggled against great, slick boxers. It might be time to retire that. Yes, Canelo had to work for it. That's absolutely

true. He got lit up with some jabs. Yes, Canelo had to work for it. That's absolutely true. He got lit up with some jabs. Okay, these are not nothing. But, dude, can you say that that was the game plan to beat him? Can you say that, like, that's exactly – who is at 175 the slickster that's going to give him problems that's holding a belt that he might want? It might exist at some point. But right now, it's like I just feel like there's a lot of arguments

about what Canelo suffers from, and every time he goes out there, it's like, he doesn't really suffer from them all that bad, does he? Hey Andre Ward, we know you're 37 You are stuck on the Andre Ward idea. You've been out of the game for years on your own accord, and you accomplished that, and the right to do that, I know you're a great broadcaster now

but if you want to do this, the time is now the window is now, because you may be the only fighter skilled enough at these weight classes but Paterbiev's got the power and he's skilled himself, although he's going to be 36. He's pushing, you know, he's getting late here. But maybe Ward's the only hope. Maybe there is none for now with this prime version of Canelo. Another great victory for him in the books. Two more questions about this. One, where would you rank Plant among the four belts he had to collect as being the toughest?

That's a good question. So my argument was it was the toughest. Here's why. So Fielding, throw that out. So then you have Callum Smith. Now, Callum Smith went the distance, but, you know, Canelo, I mean, he was in the driver's seat the entire time. You're like, Smith might last or something, but that was really about it. Forget Yildirim.

Okay, I'm going to forget Yildirim. Saunders was razzle-dazzle until he got his face rocked, but that was really about it. Forget Yildirim. Okay, I'm going to forget Yildirim. Saunders was razzle-dazzle until he got his face rocked, so that's out. And then you have this one. Now, this one, he did get stopped. Callum Smith didn't, but I do believe you can make the argument that Plant made Canelo work harder for it.

Absolutely. And so for that reason, I'm going to say it's Caleb Plant. And even though we maligned the Twitter scores for being too generous for Plant for standing in there and not getting knocked out and having pockets of success and rounds that I thought, hey, close, but you got to score him to Canelo, just to do that, to have a chance to go the distance, to be pushing it in the 11th, for me to come out here and say, you know, I'm a little old school here, but maybe he should have been allowed to stand up on that second knockdown.

That shows you that this was the toughest challenge because the cliche of styles makes fights make sense. Plant had the speed and boxing base to make this an interesting fight. He had the toughness to push it deep. You may see more talented guys, but they get finished quicker against Canelo, but this was sort of the perfect storm in his window. If you're going to do it, it was tonight. He tried his best, Caleb Plant. Canelo too good. That's the end of the story. That's it. Luke, put it in the books. It's over. Almost. What's next for Caleb Plant? Because to me, I know he lost here, but I think a lot of fans got a good

taste of what he brings to the ballgame. And also, again, I think he fought about as well as he could have given the circumstances. He's going to beat other guys in this weight class who are very good. What do you think is next? I think the rest of the division takes a pause to wait to see what Canelo's plans are. If Canelo's plans are to make a run at 75 and go for all the belts, and by the way, that would be a, well, he's already won a world title in that division by knocking out Kovalev, but to have it, I mean, if he goes in there and unifies against this group of, B-Ball's undefeated, Beterbiev's undefeated,

Joe Smith is dangerous in his own right, that would open up all the belts at 68 in theory. So if that happens, it's going to be an interesting playing field because Benavidez is young and hungry and two times a former champion, never lost belts in the ring, lost them on the scales or in the drug test. Durrell's still here, as he proved tonight. He is right there, walking past. We've got the potential of Jamal Charlo moving up. So there's – especially if you just look at the PBC,

there's huge fights for him. So there's, especially if you just look at the PBC, there's huge fights for him. But it's going to depend. If Canelo's still lingering, and I'm David Benavidez, I try to win next week against late replacement Kyron Davis, and I start banging the drums on public forums and get that going for an all-Mexico showdown. Why doesn't Canelo take Benavidez down

to Azteca or something? He could. I mean, again, dude, his options at this point are extraordinary. That might be it for us. That's it. I think that's a wrap. I mean, we got to most of it there. We got to go watch the UFC main event.

I don't know what's next for Plant. We'll see what happens. Oh, last question. We'll end on this. Canelo was already pound for pound the number one heading into this fight. How wide is the distance now? How far back is number two? It seems like you could not possibly make an argument

that anyone is more pound for pound deserving than Canelo Alvarez. What's crazy is that a year ago, before Lomachenko lost to Lopez, a year and a half ago, I was making this case that this is the most decorated, the top five of the pound for pounds ever been. There was, at that point, five, maybe six guys who had an argument for the top. Canelo, Spence,

Crawford, Lomachenko, Inoue. Usyk was still getting some hipster votes. Fury is there as well. It was the most crowded field ever, and in this past year, Canelo's just pushed everybody back. I think it's clear. It's a clear lead. I have Inouye number two. Some people have him five. You know, I mean, these lists are subjected in all of the board. But we saw it tonight. It's not, you know, it's not overwhelming because Crawford's amazing. Spencer's great.

These guys are great. Inouye's something special. But this campaign in 2021. This past year, though, to have space when these guys are all this talent. I mean, come on. Come on. What are we doing? As I said, Canelo Alvarez, the king of the 168s,

and to BC's point, the king of boxing. He had the crown on tonight after beating Caleb Plant via TKO in the 11th. An unbelievable performance, a great fight week, and we're not done. We have one more post-fight show for you, a UFC 268 post-fight show. We're going to close this. We're going to head upstairs to, literally, my room. I think there's a social graphic.

We can't see the screen. Don't say this live. We might get some donks following us up there. We don't need this. Yeah, there you see our socials. YouTube.com slash Morning Combat. The link for the UFC 268 post-fight show is already up. That's Brian Campbell. I'm Luke Thomas. Thank you so much for all your support. One more rodeo right after this one. Join us for the UFC

268 post-fight show. Until then, enjoy the fights.