Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant

Canelo Álvarez vs. Caleb Plant

Date	November 6, 2021
Venue	MGM Grand Garden Arena, Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the line	WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, The Ring and TBRB undisputed super middleweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Saúl Álvarez Caleb Plant Nickname Canelo ("Cinnamon") "Sweet Hands" Hometown Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico Ashland City, Tennessee, U.S. Purse $40,000,000 $10,000,000 Pre-fight record 56–1–2 (38 KO) 21–0 (12 KO) Age 31 years, 3 months 29 years, 3 months Height 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) Weight 168 lb (76 kg) 167 lb (76 kg) Style Orthodox Orthodox Recognition WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, and The Ring Super Middleweight Champion TBRB No. 1 Ranked Super Middleweight The Ring No. 1 ranked pound-for-pound fighter 4-division world champion IBF Super Middleweight Champion The Ring/TBRB No. 2 Ranked Super Middleweight
Result
Álvarez wins via 11th-round TKO

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:

Weight Class		vs.		Method	Round	Time	Notes
Super middleweight	Canelo Álvarez (c)	def.	Caleb Plant (c)	TKO	11/12	1:05	Note 1
Super middleweight	Anthony Dirrell	def.	Marcos Hernandez	KO	4/10	0:22
Super bantamweight	Rey Vargas	def.	Leonardo Baez	UD	10/10
Super lightweight	Elvis Rodriguez	def.	Juan Pablo Romero	KO	5/10	2:59

^Note 1 For WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring super middleweight titles

Broadcasting

Country/Region	Free-to-air	Cable/Satellite	PPV	Stream
United States (host)	—		Showtime
Mexico	Azteca 7 Azteca Uno adn40 A Más	—		TV Azteca Deportes
Australia	—		Main Event, Kayo Sports
Latvia	—			Go3
United Kingdom	—		BT Sport Box Office
Ireland
Japan	—	Wowow	—
Russia	—	Match TV	—
Turkey	—			S Sport Plus
Unsold markets	—		FITE TV

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.