LAS VEGAS – The last time Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant shared a stage at a press conference, they traded insults and punches that left Plant with a significant scrape that bled beneath his right eye.
The super middleweight champions were much more reserved Wednesday at MGM Grand, where they came together for their last press conference before their 12-round, 168-pound super middleweight title unification fight Saturday night. They weren’t allowed to come face to face because their handlers were concerned that it would lead to another physical confrontation just three days before they’re scheduled to square off in a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event.
Though there was much less drama this time around, the unbeaten Plant directly delivered a message to the Mexican superstar when it was his turn to speak.
“Not much time left and really not much left to say, so I’m gonna keep it short and sweet,” Plant said. “Leading up to this fight, Canelo said that Mexicans don’t f--- around. Well, that’s good to know because where I’m from, we don’t f--- around neither. So, Saturday night, make sure you tune in. You’ll be seeing the first undisputed super middleweight [champion] of all time. This is history and you’re looking at him, and his name is Caleb Plant.”
Alvarez, 31, and Plant, 29, will fight to become the first undisputed champion in the history of the super middleweight division.
The winner of their fight for Alvarez’s WBA, WBC and WBO belts and Plant’s IBF championship also can become just the sixth fully unified champion in any division during boxing’s four-belt era. Barring a draw, the Alvarez-Plant winner will join retired middleweights Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, junior welterweights Terence Crawford and Josh Taylor and cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk as the only boxers to have earned that distinction.
The Caesars Sportsbook lists Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), a four-division champion from Guadalajara, Mexico, as a 9-1 favorite to beat Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee.
Their bout will headline a four-fight telecast scheduled to start at 9 p.m. EDT and 6 p.m. PDT. The suggested retail price for the event is $79.99.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
