By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña

Photo by Showtime Boxing

November 6th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Mexican superstar and unified WBA, WBC, and WBO Super Middleweight World Champion, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and the undefeated IBF Super Middleweight World Champion, Caleb “Sweethands” Plant will enter the ring to battle it out for legacy, history and Super Middleweight Supremacy as both fighter look to become the first ever undisputed champion at 168lbs. 

Regarded as by many in the boxing community as the #1 pound for pound fighter in the world, the four division world champion Canelo Alvarez looks to cement his name in the record books when he battles the extremely talented and confident Caleb Plant for a chance to become the first ever undisputed Super Middleweight Champion in the four belt era. Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KO) has won seven fights in a row since his September 2017 controversial draw with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Since that fight Alvarez has only continued to add legacy and his popularity winning championships at Middleweight, Super Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, with his last victory coming this past May when Canelo came away with a victory over Billy Joe Saunders. A fight in which Canelo landed an astonishing 53% of his punches before breaking the orbital bone of Saunders in the 9th round forcing Saunders to quit and adding the WBO Super Middleweight title to his collections.“I’m honored and blessed by God to be in the sport I love, and I want to accomplish all the goals I set in the sport of boxing – to be successful and make history.” Stated Canelo in a recent interview and went on to say “To be undisputed is history for Mexico and for everyone on my team. To be the undisputed champion is just a great thing for my career.” 

The undefeated IBF Champion, Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be going into the fight against Alvarez as a heavy underdog (+650). As most people believe, Alvarez will achieve his dream of becoming undisputed that night in Vegas. Plant, however, is extremely confident in his abilities and says he feels more than ready to shock the world and stated at a recent press conference. “I know that people don’t believe me when I tell them I’m winning on November 6th. All those people who tell me that I can’t do something, you live believable lives and you do believable things. I promised myself that I was going to run this all the way to the top, with no problem crashing and burning along the way. I set out to live an unbelievable life and accomplish unbelievable things. Those people who doubt me are the very reason that I’m here.” Leading up to the Canelo fight Plant has faced the likes of Mike Lee, Vincent Feigenbutz, and Caleb Truax a resume that is very lackluster in comparison to Canelo’s. Despite the questions surrounding Plant’s overall resume and regardless of the limited number of fans and Media picking Plant to actually win, he urges fans to be ready for a big surprise fight night.“On November 6th, the world will witness boxing’s first ever crowned undisputed super middleweight champion,” said Plant. “Everyone should order the PPV now and get their popcorn ready, because I’m about to put on a performance that will go down in history as one of the best ever. This man is in trouble.”

Photos by Showtime

During the recent kick off press conference in Beverly Hills, Canelo and Plant appeared to exchange real punches as things turned ugly quickly during an extended face-off between the two combatants. Alvarez and Plant stood nose to nose and a heated exchange of words started. Alvarez stated that Plant called him a “motherfucker”  which angered Alvarez. Canelo shoved Plant. Then Plant came forward and slapped Alvarez , Canelo then hit plant with a three punch with combination. After the altercation Canelo stated “He started talking a lot of things, I answered. Then the bad thing he said, “You motherfucker”. You can say whatever you want to me, but not to my mother. My mother is not here.”  Plant was left with a cut under his right eye, and Alvarez was bleeding from a very small cut on his left forearm. The news conference continued and both Plant and Canelo had to be separated one more time before they were escorted off the stage. After the scuffle Plant stated, “Wasn’t he yelling that at Andrade, but now, all of a sudden, those words mean something completely different? … Now, all of a sudden, I’m talking about his mama? C’mon man. That don’t even make no sense.”

Photo from Caleb Plant’s Twitter

During the press conference Plant also blasted Canelo and his coach Eddy Reynoso in regards to Oscar Valdez and Canelo testing positive for illegal substances claiming Canelo was insecure of himself. “Is taking illegal substances, is that insecurity” Plant said of Alvarez. “Does that stem from insecurity. Because taking illegal substances, that doesn’t stem from confidence. That stems from fear.” Stated Plant, who went on to say “He may be upset with me, but there’s no need to be upset with me. He should be upset with himself. There’s nothing I’ve done. These aren’t by my rules and my standards.” Plant repeatedly called Alvarez and trainer Eddy Reynoso “cheaters” and finished off the presser by saying “This sport is too dangerous for people to be popping positive, He’s a cheater. It’s not up for discussion. Did he get suspended? Did he test positive? It’s not about what I say. It’s about what the commission said. You have to take that up with them, not me.”

 Alvarez was suspended before his scheduled fight with GGG for six months as clenbuterol was detected in his VADA drug test, although Canelo claimed it came from tainted meat. Canelo who is unbeaten since his only career loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2013, kept his press conference comments brief. “For me, it’s for history, and for my team, and for Mexico I’m going to knock out this guy in less than eight rounds.”

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