In front of a packed MGM Grand Garden Arena, Canelo Alvarez created history as he became the first boxer to become the undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history.
Saul Canelo Alvarez (57-1-2) who held the WBO, WBC, and WBA titles, added the IBF title to his list to become the undisputed champion at 168 pounds as he knocked former IBF title holder Caleb Plant in round 12 of their bout. The Mexican superstar scored a pair of knockdowns in Round 11 to stop Plant.
Alvarez once again proved why he’s the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world as we saw him getting adjusted to Plant’s speed in the opening rounds by cornering and pounding some body shots in him. In the second half of the fight, Plant made some adjustments to his fighting approach but couldn’t land any significant strikes as Canelo stepped back and waited for Plant to make his move and countered him every time.
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The finish was set up beautifully by a left hook that put Plant on the ropes before a pair of uppercuts planted him to the canvas. Plant made his way up without any issues but as soon as the referee resumed the fight, a flurry of punches by Alvarez put him against the ropes for a second knockdown, and the referee Russel Mora stopped the fight without a count even though Plant looked conscious. As soon as the referee waved off his hands, Canelo put on a gold crown while draped in a veritable jacket of championship belts.
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As for his opponent Caleb Plant, he proved the doubters wrong with his toughness as no boxer in the world right now could go 11 rounds against the champ, Canelo. In the post-fight interview, Canelo said, “It hasn’t been easy to get to this point. With your support, my family, and my team, we got very far. This is for everybody, especially for Mexico. I have respect for Caleb Plant. He is a very difficult fighter and has a lot of ability. I definitely respect him.”
“He was making my stuff a little difficult but Eddie Reynoso (trainer) told me to stick to the game plan and we got him! That’s the way it had to finish. I went for the kill”
If the fight had gone the distance, Canelo would’ve taken home the decision as he outplayed his opponent by a margin of 117 to 101 and also held an advantage in body shots with a huge margin of 53-13.
Now that Canelo Alvarez has unified the super-middleweight crown, what’s next for the champ?
In the post-fight interview, Canelo was asked whether he would move back up to 175 pounds to which the Mexican replied, “We don’t know. We need to rest first”. But an interesting matchup for the champion could be the winner of Gennadiy Golovkin and Ryota Murata who are set to face each other on the 29th of December where GGG will have an opportunity to unify his IBF middleweight title with the WBA belt held by Ryota Murata.
[Featured Image Credit: Canelo Alvarez]
Shashank Iyer