The IBF title holder in the second middleweight Caleb Plant decided to go for vaccination against COVID-19 in order to minimize the risk of disruption of the upcoming unification fight with Saul Alvarez.
After learning of the postponements of a few high-profile fights in recent months, most notably Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III, the unbeaten IBF super middleweight champion got vaccinated. The 29-year-old Plant feels he could recover fully from COVID-19 because he is a youthful, professional athlete in the prime of his life.
The Las Vegas resident wanted to make sure, though, that he lessened the likelihood of him contracting the coronavirus and either postponing or canceling by far the biggest fight of his career. Plant told a group of reporters prior to the Manny Pacquiao–Yordenis Ugas pay-per-view show Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena that he was not contractually required to get vaccinated in order to move forward with his fight against Canelo Alvarez.
Plant added that he isn’t sure if Alvarez has been vaccinated in advance of their super middleweight title unification fight November 6 at a venue to be announced in Las Vegas.
“I don’t know specifically, you know, what he had to sign up for,” Caleb Plant said. “You know, no one’s, you know, put a guy to my head and said, ‘You have to sign this for the vaccination,’ or anything like that. But, you know, to be honest, not for any political reason, but I haven’t been a big fan of the vaccination. But I’m not opposed to people getting the vaccination. You know, but I feel like if you’re healthy and you’re young and you’re strong, like I am, you know, the long-term effects, I’m not exactly sure what they are.
“But I feel like if I got COVID, I could get through it just fine. But I did get the vaccination and I’m vaccinated because I don’t want this moment to slip by. And I’ve already sacrificed so much for the sport. Like I talked about, I’m not gonna let something like COVID get in the way of stopping me from obtaining my destiny.”
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), a native of Ashland City, Tennessee, and Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, will box to become the first fully unified 168-pound champion in boxing’s four-belt era.
The 31-year-old Alvarez owns the WBA, WBC and WBO belts. Plant holds the IBF title.
Their 12-round fight will headline a FOX Sports Pay-Per-View event.