The collective groan was expected long before the fight was even announced.

Caleb Plant never sought public endorsement over the decision to take on Caleb Truax (31-4-1, 19KOs) as his next opponent. As is every step in his life, the move was more about keeping the big picture in mind.

“It was by design to get this fight done early in the year,” Plant told BoxingScene.com ahead of his upcoming title defense, which takes place Jan. 30 live on Fox from Shrine Expo Auditorium in Los Angeles. “He’s my mandatory challenger, and it’s always easier to just get those out the way and then focus on bigger fights without having to worry about being tied down with those obligations.”

Plant (20-0, 12KOs) has been out of the ring since last February, where he stopped Germany’s Vincent Feigenbutz in the 11th round of their Fox-televised headliner from Nashville, Tennessee. The fight marked a long overdue homecoming for the unbeaten super middleweight who was born and raised in nearby Ashland City.

The evening’s second purpose was for Plant to rid himself of an unavoidable mandatory with hopes of moving on to bigger fights. The event took place just prior to the start of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which left Plant out of the ring for the rest of the year but deep in rumors of being paired with pound-for-pound king Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

Such a fight is very much in play in 2021, particularly now with Guadalajara’s Alvarez (54-1-2, 36KOs) owning the WBC/WBA super middleweight titles and committed to campaigning at the weight for the time being. Plant and Alvarez were never going to fight next, as both are burdened with mandatory obligations. Alvarez will next face Avni Yildirim (21-2, 12KOs) on Feb. 27th, by which time Plant figures to be well rested with his third title defense behind him and as an interested observer while mapping out the rest of his 2021 campaign.

“That’s why it was important to get this done when we had the chance,” notes Plant. “The Canelo Alvarez fight is going to come when it comes. In the meantime, we decided to do back-to-back mandatories just to get them out the way. It leaves me a year’s worth open and free to make these unification fights.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox