Canelo Álvarez Vs. Caleb Plant

Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant was a professional boxing match contested on November 6, 2021, for the undisputed super middleweight championship.

The bout took place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada and would determine the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history. Álvarez won the bout via 11th-round technical knockout.

Background

A deal was closed for the fight to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada on September 18, 2021, but talks broke down over disagreements in the contract. A potential fight with WBA (Super) light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol then seemed likely for Álvarez, however the September 18 date was scrapped. A deal was revisited between the two parties for a fight in November 2021. On August 19, 2021, both fighters were confirmed to have agreed to terms and soon afterwards, the fight was officially announced on Álvarez's Instagram page.

On September 21, 2021, the two fighters were engaged in a brief onstage scuffle during their first press conference, in which Álvarez initiated physical contact during their face-off when he shoved Plant. Álvarez stated that he had done this because he took offense to Plant's use of the word "motherfucker", interpreting it as an insult to his mother. Plant denied to reporters that he had used the common American curse word in that context. Moreover, he drew attention to Álvarez's hypocrisy, accurately indicating that Álvarez had previously used the same slur against Demetrius Andrade on the night of May 8, 2021 in the aftermath of his fight against Billy Joe Saunders in Arlington, Texas.

The bouts featured on the PPV undercard were announced on October 18, 2021, with Anthony Dirrell facing off against Marcos Hernandez, Rey Vargas going up against Leonardo Baez, and Elvis Rodriguez taking on Juan Pablo Romero.

The fight

Plant would use feints, an educated jab and smooth footwork to stay off the ropes and mostly out of harm's way for the first few rounds. However Alvarez would break Plant down with relentless pressure and dedicated attacks to the body. In round 10, a left hook followed by a right uppercut sent Plant down, he beat the count but appeared to be on unsteady legs and in the next round a barrage of shots sent him down again prompting referee Russell Mora to wave it off giving Álvarez a TKO victory. At the time of the stoppage, Álvarez was ahead on the scorecards with 98–92, 96–94, and 97–93. ESPN has it 98–92 for Álvarez. With the victory, Álvarez had become only the fourth boxer to be an undisputed champion since the four-belt era began in 2007, following Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk and Josh Taylor.

Aftermath

At the WBC Convention on 15 November in Mexico City, the WBC approved the request of Álvarez's trainer and manager, Eddy Reynoso, to have Álvarez challenge Ilunga Makabu for his WBC cruiserweight title. Álvarez has never competed at cruiserweight, so Reynoso had needed to petition the WBC to order the title fight. The fight had been rumoured to take place in May 2022. This ultimately did not materialize, as Makabu was forced into a mandatory defense of his title in a rematch against Thabiso Mchunu on 29 January 2022. Instead, it was announced on 25 February 2022 that Álvarez had signed a two-fight deal with Matchroom Boxing; the first fight would see him returning to the light heavyweight division to challenge undefeated WBA champion Dmitry Bivol on 7 May.

Fight card

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

Reception

The fight generated a live gate of around $18,000,000 from the 16,586 tickets sold in the sold-out show. The card was reported to have sold around 800,000 PPV buys in the US. At the price of $79.95, the card generated roughly $64 million of domestic revenue.

References

__NOTOC__

{{DEFAULTSORT:Álvarez, Plant
2021 in boxing
2021 in sports in Nevada
November 2021 sports events in the United States
Boxing matches at MGM Grand Garden Arena
Plant
Boxing on BT Sport
Boxing on Showtime
Pay-per-view boxing matches
Super middleweight championship matches