I think Canelo will be aggressor and will walk on Plant during the entire fight. We will watch Canelo vs Callum Smith 2. However, Plant has better skills than Smith and his punch accuracy will be a bit better. What will be Canelo's strategy for you?
Exactly the same as Rocky Fielding and Callum Smith Low output Front foot forward Counter punching in 1-4 punch combinations Plant feet and throw power shots from the centre of the ring Body shots to bring the guard down Plenty of lefthooks disguised as uppercuts and vice versa The low output allows Canelo the time to think and have the space to go through all his drills while the opponent looks clueless half the time.
Canelo will be stalking him, Plant will be using his foot work, and trying to land from range with his longer reach. Plant needs to pull a GGG in the rematch to an extent, back away, put the jab out there, land off his backfoot and avoid getting trapped on the ropes. Use his superior reach, keep his distance and try to outpoint him keeping Canelo at range. Canelo just needs to walk him down, use feints, try to fake Plant out, trap him on the ropes, dig in some body shots, slow him down, then land power shots upstairs. I don't know if Canelo will work behind the jab, I don't think he has to. He has a great jab but it's going to be hard to out-jab Plant with such a reach and height disadvantage, maybe mix in some jabs to the body.
The problem is that it's impossible to beat Canelo even at long range. Both Smith and Saunders tried that and failed. Smith's punch accuracy was 18% and Saunders' was 21%. I don't think that Plant's accuracy will surpass 25%. I say 25% because Plant's timing is a bit better than both. Also, Plant's height won't be an advantage. Smith was even taller than him. Smith is 190 cm, Plant is 185 cm and Saunders is 180 cm.
Callum Smith's height advantage turned into a disadvantage vs Canelo. Smith fought all hunched over. Smith was too tall to really land clean shots on Canelo, Callum tried to make himself smaller which didn't help him at all. Had Callum fought Canelo upright, it would have been harder for Canelo to land shots uptairs, the body was always going to be there to be hit since it's such a massive target for a Canelo. But Plant will fight upright. If Saunders fought upright and used his footwork, he would have done better and probably wouldn't have been caught like he was. You have to give Canelo footwork and angles. Plant can do that, Plant has good upper body movement, he can evade shots and counter. When Saunders used head movement that one round, he made Canelo miss. In fact I can't remember a fighter who gave Canelo any head and upper body movement that made him miss like that since Mayweather. Plant can actually make Canelo miss with footwork and upper body movement. This adds an element that we really haven't seen in a Canelo fight since Mayweather - a fighter who can make him miss with head movement and upper body movemnt with good overall boxing skills.
Plant has good head movement but his defense is not that great overall. He has too risky defensive skills and gets caught a lot of times. Uzcategui caught him and f*cked his face. However, lost the fight because of knockdowns. Plant is hardworking fighter but he will get crushed under Canelo's pressure. You overestimate him.
