What Is PBC Risking For Canelo Alvarez-Caleb Plant Fight?
Top Rank boss Bob Arum feels that the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) is playing a huge gamble by reserving huge purses for Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Caleb Plant.
Alvarez and Plant are expected to get $40 million and $10 million, respectively. But Arum believes that it will a tough job for the PBC to stack undercard fights after putting a huge amount of money on the Canelo-Plant main event.
The two boxers will face off in a 168-lb unification fight on November 6 on FOX Sports pay-per-view.
“When they look at their situation, they have a tremendous amount that they’ve bet on the Canelo fight, and to take on a burden like this, an additional burden, is not easy,” Arum told World Boxing News. “So, that may be one of the reasons why they may opt for us to do the event.”
The reason there’s a doubt if the main event will sell out big PPV numbers is Plant. The Tennessee-native doesn’t possess Canelo-like stardom nor is he considered a major threat to the Mexican star.
Still, Plant has some accolades to his name.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) has held the IBF super middleweight title since 2019. As of July, he is ranked as the second-best super middleweight by ESPN and third by The Ring and Transnational Boxing Rankings board.
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But experts fear that the probability of Alvarez strolling past Plant in this fight is huge, which is why the PPV sales may not achieve big numbers.
The PBC will have to risk more money by paying well-known fighters to join the card if they don’t want to sabotage the PPV buys. This move could either nosedive if the main event bombs or make the PBC a lot of money.