BOXING's big grudge matches are as common as fights of the century.
Fans and promoters are more excited by the prospect of witnessing a bloodbath between two men who hate each other's stomachs.
Canelo and Plant could become a bloodbath if the two are truly incompatible
Although it is not harmful to ticket sales and pay-per-view TV purchases, these occasions are very rare.
American referee Russell Mora is sure to have his hands full in the clash between Mexican Canelo and Tennessee's Caleb Plant at Las Vegas on Sunday morning.
Canelo is the WBC, WBA, and WBO world supermiddleweight belt holders so it should not be a problem taking care of Plant, unbeaten IBF champion.
After they fought at a Los Angeles press conference six months ago, there is still animosity between them.
Canelo claimed that Plant had insulted his mother and lost his cool with him.
The incident provoked ugly scenes, and there were many punches. Plant was bleeding from an injury below his right eye when security personnel broke them up.
Free Bets: Get more than PS2,000 in NEW CUSTOMER DEALSCarl Frampton was a former double world champion and turned pundit. He suggested that Plant's training program would be seriously disrupted by the time it takes to heal the wound.
Plant may have won 21 of his fights, but it would have been foolish for me to try and antagonize the man who is, pound-for pound, the best fighter on the planet.
Canelo, a 31-year-old ruthless fighter machine, has lost only one of his 59 fights. That was eight years ago when Floyd Mayweather Jr. narrowly defeated him.
He says he wants boxing to continue for at least seven more years. My advice to him is to not miss the opportunity to see him now, before his abilities decline.
Someone suggested that Alvarez was the Cristiano Ronaldo in boxing. I think Ronaldo is the Alvarez in football.
Plant is a huge 1-12 favorite to defeat him to be the first fighter to unify super-middle.
Alvarez predicts he will complete the job in the eighth round. However, it would not be surprising if Plant is killed long before that.
The pair will, despite the prefight nastiness and hostilities ending, bury the hatchet.
This is not the same as the fourth world championship battle for featherweights between Willie Pep (New York's Polo Grounds) 70 years ago.
This fight is regarded as the most filthy of all time.
They punched each other, hit each other below the belt, and even wrestled on the floor until Pep was forced to retire with an eye injury.
Alvarez and Plant will be like gentlemen, compared to Saddler and Pep.
