Error code: %{errorCode}

Ryan Garcia and Caleb Plant - More proof that boxing's biggest plans can sometimes go wrong

DAZN
Paul vs Chavez Jr - June 28 on DAZN PPV - Buy now

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry… 

This oft-heard phrase is actually a misquoted line from the poem "To a Mouse," by the 18th century Scottish author, Robert Burns. Yet the idiom remains as true in 2025 as it did back when Burns penned it in 1785, and essentially means that even the most carefully thought-out plans can go wonky or encounter unexpected problems. 

It is especially true in the sport of boxing, and if last month taught us anything it taught us that tune up fights are often rarely worth the risk. 

Boxing is a sport like no other. I ma Best laid plans of mice and men, fumbling the bag and the trouble with boxing tune ups  

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry… 

This oft-heard phrase is actually a misquoted line from the poem "To a Mouse," by the 18th century Scottish author, Robert Burns. Yet the idiom remains as true in 2025 as it did back when Burns penned it in 1785, and essentially means that even the most carefully thought-out plans can go wonky or encounter unexpected problems. 

Watch on YouTube

It is especially true in the sport of boxing, and if last month taught us anything it taught us that tune up fights are often rarely worth the risk. 

Boxing is a sport like no other. I marvelled at the sporting spectacle in Paris on Sunday as Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner battled for over five hours in the French Open final, a contest that might go down as the greatest Grand Slam final ever. 

Sinner was slumped in his chair at the end, a broken man trying to comprehend how he had lost a match where he had three championship points but somehow failed to get over the line.  

The defeat will hurt, but he will get a chance to atone for the disappointment in just a few short weeks when Wimbledon starts on the grass. Losing to Alcaraz will not impact his earning power going forward, and players are only ever days away from the next big event on the ATP calendar.     

Boxing is different. One punch in the face can change a fighters’ whole career trajectory.  

Maverick former heavyweight Randall "Tex" Cobb perhaps summed it up best when he said "If you screw things up in tennis, it's 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it's your ass".  

Ryan Garcia and Caleb Plant will know what Cobb is talking about. 

Last month in New York Garcia had a job to do. Beat Rolando Romero at New York's iconic Times Square, and a mega-money rematch with Devin Haney would be his later this year. 

Haney kept his side of the bargain with a unanimous - if underwhelming - win against fellow American Jose Carlos Ramirez, but ‘KingRy’ was dropped in the second round by a Romero left hook and outboxed for long spells as he fell to a quite shocking 115-112, 115-112 and 118-109 unanimous decision loss

The defeat saw him drop to 24-2 (20) but also seemed to scupper Turki Al-Sheikh's plan for Haney v Garcia 2.  

Moving up a few weights, and moving forward just a few short weeks, one of the hottest fights at 168 was Caleb Plant against Jermall Charlo.  

Both men were high profile operators and there was a juicy backstory too, with Plant having slapped Charlo across the face in a moody fracas that was filmed by chance on a mobile phone and later attracted 473,000 views on YouTube.  

So much like Haney and Garcia, Plant and Charlo featured in a respective semi-final of sorts on the same bill at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas at the end of last month. The idea was for both men to win convincingly and then start banging the drum for a grudge match. 

Charlo performed as expected as he eased to a TKO win over Thomas LaManna - the fight being stopped before the sixth round after LaManna was dropped three times. 

However, it was not to be for Plant, who lost a split decision in a seismic upset to Armando Resendiz, who captured the interim WBA super-middleweight title as a result.  

It’s easy to be wise after the event, but match-making is an art, and there is always an element of risk in this kind of double-header showdown.  

The very notion of a ‘stay busy’ or ‘tune up’ fight suggests there are bigger things around the corner, and if that is the case then the main protagonist could get distracted or maybe feel he does not have to train quite as hard.  

Boxing history is littered with examples of fighters fumbling the bag. Tommy Morrison taking a stay busy fight against huge betting underdog Michael Bentt in the 1990s - instead of going straight to the money against Lennox Lewis - and getting stopped inside a round.  

Erik Morales against Zahir Raheem, when ‘El Terrible’ just looked terrible in a 2005 tune up before a scheduled rematch with Manny Pacquaio. Raheem beat Morales, who still got his rematch with Manny, but it was a much tougher sell for the promoter as a result.    

The problem with common sense is that it’s not that common. But if boxing history tells us anything, it’s that when a big fight makes sense it is best to just get it made, and not let it marinade to increase the hype or maximize potential revenue. 

  Jake Paul vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr will be streamed exclusively on DAZN PPV , Saturday, June 28.  Buy the PPV now here .

OSZAR »