Canelo Álvarez stops Caleb Plant to become undisputed 168-pound boxing champ

LAS VEGAS — Canelo Álvarez became the archetypal undisputed four-belt ace middleweight satellite champion successful boxing past Saturday night, stopping Caleb Plant successful the 11th circular with 2 melodramatic knockdowns.

Álvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) added Plant’s IBF rubric to his ain WBC, WBA and WBO belts with a dependable tactical show culminating successful a superb show of his vaunted powerfulness to decorativeness the antecedently unbeaten Plant astatine the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The Mexican superstar mostly recognized arsenic the apical pound-for-pound combatant successful the satellite became the sixth antheral to beryllium a four-belt champion, and helium joined inferior welterweight Josh Taylor arsenic the lone existent undisputed champs of their value class.

After stopping 3 of his erstwhile 4 opponents, Álvarez had to grind done a hard matchup with the tenacious Plant (21-1), who usually moved backward and worked down his jab to enactment distant from Canelo’s power.

Álvarez remained persistent and racked up a measurement of prime punches — and successful the opening seconds of the 11th round, helium sent Plant crashing to the canvas with a vicious operation followed by an uppercut portion Plant tried to duck away.

Plant got up unsteadily, and Álvarez dropped him again with 2 large close hands, forcing referee Russell Mora to extremity it.

Plant is simply a sturdy champion and an inspirational jock who overcame galore idiosyncratic tragedies to gain a changeable astatine the pound-for-pound champ, but the Tennessee autochthonal recovered retired conscionable however large the spread remains betwixt Canelo and his contemporaries.

Álvarez is the archetypal Mexican combatant to reign undisputed atop a division, and each flag-waving instrumentality successful the vehemently pro-Canelo sellout assemblage of 16,586 seemed alert of the achievement. The champion, a Guadalajara native, spoke often earlier the combat of his determination to execute the feat some for himself and for Mexico.

Álvarez extended the astir palmy progressive vocation successful boxing with his eighth consecutive triumph successful conscionable implicit 3 years. He hasn’t mislaid successful 16 fights since dropping a bulk determination to Floyd Mayweather successful 2013, with lone a gully against Gennady Golovkin blemishing his record.

Álvarez and Plant had nary idiosyncratic animus until September, erstwhile Álvarez took discourtesy to an insult from Plant during a quality league successful Beverly Hills to beforehand the bout. Álvarez and Plant concisely scrapped, leaving Plant with a chopped connected his look and a caller avenue of motivation.

Plant opened the biggest bout of his vocation with a coagulated crippled plan, tapping Álvarez with a coagulated jab and moving distant from his opponent’s superior power, often utilizing a enarthrosis rotation to debar trouble. Álvarez steadily walked down Plant and did harm successful the fourth, backing him against the ropes and letting combinations fly.

Álvarez showed small fearfulness of Plant’s punches, and helium got adjacent little heedful arsenic the bout progressed. Álvarez gradually landed much efficaciously successful the mediate rounds, moving Plant backward and adjacent daring the cautious Plant to deed him successful the seventh.

Boxing gets frequent, deserved disapproval arsenic an instauration for the promoter rivalries and fractious sanctioning bodies that forestall the champion fighters from gathering each different acold excessively often. But Álvarez utilized his prima powerfulness to articulation an elite nine by winning each 4 large belts.

Only 5 men had ever achieved four-belt undisputed champion presumption since the feat became imaginable with the WBO’s advent: middleweights Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, inferior welterweights Terence Crawford and Taylor, and cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk.

Taylor achieved the feat successful May by beating Jose Ramirez. His archetypal simultaneous defence of each 4 belts is scheduled for February successful Glasgow against Jack Catterall.

In the co-main event, ace middleweight seasoned Anthony Dirrell earned his archetypal triumph successful astir 3 years by stopping Marcos Hernandez successful the opening moments of the 4th circular with a vicious uppercut. The 37-year-old Dirrell celebrated with a lasting backflip.