That’s all for tonight. Thanks as always for following along with us and be sure to check out Donald McRae’s full report and quotes piece from tonight’s main event.
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“I want to thank everybody here tonight,” Álvarez says in Spanish through a translator. “It hasn’t been easy to get to this point. But with in your support, my family, my team we’ve gotten really far. This is for everybody, especially from Mexico, it’s another one for our team. We did it tonight.”
Asked whether he wants to remain at 168lbs or move up to 175lbs for his next fight, Canelo responds in his fastly improving English: “We don’t know. We want a rest. We need the rest we deserve.”
Álvarez wins by 11th-round TKO!
Álvarez sends Plant to the canvas with a thudding left hook early in the 11th round. Plant beats the count but Canelo rushes in and quickly drops his opponent for a second time. This time the referee correctly waves it off and it’s over! Canelo Álvarez is the undisputed super-middleweight champion of the world!
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Round 10
Canelo really putting a lot of leather on Plant’s rib cage in this round, looking to chop down the bigger man before him once and for all. Plant’s work rate has seemed to drop off a cliff. Not sure Plant will make it to the finish line.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 98-92 Plant)
Round 9
Canelo having a bit of trouble cutting off the ring on Plant, an issue that’s cropped up in previous fights from time to time. But Álvarez is still landing the harder, cleaner and more effective shots. Plant still gliding around the perimeter of the ring nicely and even lands a flashy combination in the final minute. Best round for Plant in quite some time – he’s making Canelo work for this – but Álvarez still did enough to nick it on our card.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 88-83 Plant)
Round 8
More of the same. Canelo walking Plant down and hooking away to the head and body. Plant showing a pulse, doing enough to at least resemble being in the fight, but he appears more than content to make Álvarez miss. He’s giving the impression of a fighter who would be satisfied to go the distance. Who can blame him?
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 78-74 Plant)
Round 7
Álvarez picks up right where he left off in the sixth. Plant catches Álvarez coming in flush with a counter right, but Canelo takes it well and resumes throwing punches in combination. Álvarez seems to be running away with it, Plant without a reliable back-up plan. Álvarez spends the final minute of the frame trying to set a trap for Plant that he doesn’t walk into. Another easy one to score for the Mexican.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 68-65 Plant)
Round 6
Álvarez’s power punches are more visibily taking their toll on Plant now and they’re only coming with greater and more brutal frequency. Plant’s shell has been broken down. An ominous sign. One thudding right hand after another to the body by Canelo. The most lopsided round of the fight so far.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 58-56 Plant)
Round 5
Plant using the shoulder roll well to slip and evade Álvarez’s punches, then countering in spots with good effect. But enough of those Canelo thudding hooks are getting through. Plant is taking them well but they’re very much scoring punches. Another very competitive round but easier to score for Álvarez than some of the others. Canelo standing in his corner ahead of the sixth round rather than sitting, perhaps in a spot of gamesmanship.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 48-47 Plant)
Round 4
Early on Canelo lands a massive left hook upstairs on Plant as he’s pinned on the ropes and the crowd springs to its feet. But he’s able to escape from danger under a hail of punches and resumes his game plan of jabbing away. He’s outthrowing Álvarez by a more than two-to-one margin. Plant is very slippery and making Canelo miss a lot, but maybe not doing a whole lot to win himself other than weather the onslaught. Close round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 38-38 Plant)
Round 3
Plant opens with a double jab. Canelo operating with a flagrant disregard for the Tennesseean’s power but Plant is blocking and parrying a lot of the punches and performing well despite the pressure. Álvarez lands a left hook but Plant takes it well. Plant continues to use the jab to set up shots to the body. Slick boxing, double and triple jabs. Álvarez hasn’t been able to translate his pressure into landed combinations, only opening up when he’s got his opponent on the ropes.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 9-10 Plant (Álvarez 28-29 Plant)
Round 2
Álvarez now closing the distance. He lands a right over the top and a series of hooks to the body and head. Canelo marching right in as Plant is jabbing off the back foot. More hooks to the head and body by Canelo, who’s taking away the jab from Plant. Crowd whipped into a frenzy. Plant given no room to operate beneath Álvarez’s suffocating pressure, but he’s not given up on his game plan of trying to leverage his reach advantage.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 10-9 Plant (Álvarez 19-19 Plant)
Round 1
Álvarez has become known for reserved starts as he collects data on his opponent and tonight is no different. Plant pecks away with the jab as he circles Álvarez. Canelo finally closes the distance and lands a chopping right hand nearly two minutes into the frame. Canelo doing some body work in the final minute. He traps Plant along the ropes in the closing seconds and opens up. Neither man landed a whole lot but Plant’s activity was enough to nick it on our card.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Álvarez 9-10 Plant (Álvarez 9-10 Plant)
Now it’s Canelo’s turn. And the four-weight champion makes his way to the ring in a gold Dolce & Gabbana robe alongside Fher Olvera, frontman of the Mexican rock band Maná, who hail from Álvarez’s home town of Guadalajara. The song Olvera is performing: El Rey. Not a ton of subtext there. Álvarez looks calm and ready.
Meanwhile, there’s Dave Chappelle!
Chants of “Ca-ne-lo! Ca-ne-lo!” ring through the MGM Grand Garden Arena after signing of the national anthems of Mexico and the United States. Now after the months, weeks, days and hours of waiting, the fighters are making their entrances. First it’s Plant, who emerges from the tunnel in an all-white get-up amid a chorus of boos alongside the rapper Conway the Machine. In case there was any doubt, this is very much a Canelo crowd.
Anthony Dirrell has just scored a sensasional knockout of Marcos Hernandez in the final undercard bout of the night. The two-time WBC super-middleweight champion, who is lobbying for a shot against tonight’s winner, detonated a right uppercut on his opponent’s chin early in the fourth round before the referee waved it off only 22 seconds in.
That means our main event between Álvarez and Plant should be under way any moment now.
Álvarez, who has won titles at every weight from 154lbs through 175lbs, enters tonight’s fight at the peak of his powers. The 31-year-old from Guadalajara is currently sitting as an overwhelming minus-1000 favorite, meaning a punter would need to wager $1,000 in order to win $100. Our Donald McRae spoke with Canelo ahead of tonight’s potential step into history.
A few weeks earlier, during our interview, Álvarez had promised he would teach Plant the fundamental difference between watching him and fighting him. But, in Vegas, I reminded Álvarez of one of the great Marvin Hagler’s trademark insights into boxing. “It’s tough to get out of bed to do roadwork at 5am when you’ve been sleeping in silk pyjamas,” Hagler said years ago. It was a reminder that even the seemingly untouchable champions have to keep returning to a dark well of adversity to replenish themselves.
How does Álvarez stoke this fire in his Dolce and Gabbana pyjamas? “The desire comes out of my love for boxing. I want to always get better and make history. That’s what matters to me.” He smiles. “There’s nothing wrong with the pyjamas, by the way. But Hagler is a legend.”
Álvarez speaks in Spanish here but throughout our main interview he relies on his increasingly confident English, which has helped turn him into the biggest draw in American boxing. His fame and wealth have become astronomical but Álvarez retains his relish for fighting. He is contemporary boxing’s closest equivalent to Hagler, for, unlike so many fighters who step into the ring once a year, this will be his fourth world title bout in 11 months.
Prelude
Hello and welcome to the Las Vegas Strip for tonight’s super-middleweight title unification fight between Canelo Álvarez and Caleb Plant. Tonight’s main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena pits Álvarez, the WBA, WBC and WBO champion at 168lbs, against Plant, who holds the IBF’s version of the championship. The winner will become the first man ever to unify all four major sanctioning bodies’ title belts in boxing’s super-middleweight division. It’s a rare feat. So rare in fact that only five male boxers have ever done it at any weight since the feat became possible in 1988.
We’ve got just one more preliminary bout until Álvarez and Plant make their ringwalks. Plenty more to come between now and then.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Donald McRae’s lookahead to tonight’s main event.
