Saul “Canelo” Alvarez became only the sixth ever undisputed champion as he knocked out Caleb Plant in the 11th round in Las Vegas last night.
The Mexican, who already held the WBA, WBC and WBO belts took out Plant and his IBF belt to create boxing history by becoming the first ever undisputed super middleweight champion.
Canelo caught Plant with a flashing left hook 30 seconds into the 11th round to stun the American, before flooring him with a right uppercut.
Plant was able to rise and was given permission by referee Russell Mora to fight on before being clattered by another Canelo hook followed by a flurry of punches, ending the Plant resistance.
The fighter who many are calling the “Pound for Pound best” showed why he is certainly worth that debate as he was able to obliterate Plant with a flurry of wonderful punches, after the American had stuck to a brilliant game plan the previous 10 rounds.
At the time of the stoppage, the scorecards read 98-92, 97-93, 96-94 all in favour of Canelo, which doesn’t show how brilliant Plant had performed with many believing that he should’ve been much closer to Canelo on the cards before the KO.
However Plant showed last night that no matter how well you perform against Canelo, one drop in concentration can end your hopes in an instance, taking the Mexican’s professional record to 57-1-2, with his sole loss against arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
What next for the two fighters
For Canelo, he still has years left in his boxing career, so there are three realistic options for the Mexican.
Move up to light heavyweight and aim to fight the likes of WBA champion Dimitry Bivol or WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev.
Move down to middleweight and fight the winner of Ryota Murata- Gennady Golovkin, in which he will be able to sweep up two belts with a win and then aim for a third and a fourth against Jermall Charlo and Demetrius Andrade.
Or he could stay in his current super middleweight division and defend his undisputed titles against the likes of David Morrell or wait for some of the names mentioned before to his division.
Whichever option Canelo choses, it will more than likely happen as he has the fire power and attraction of the entire boxing community, a Canelo pay day isn’t something many can turn down.
For Plant, the previous options mentioned for Canelo are all possibilities for the American, however waiting for Canelo to make the first move might be the road Plant heads down.
If Canelo vacates his belts and moves divisions, then Plant will have a massive opportunity to fight for his belts again in the super middleweight division, however if the Mexican announces his desire to remain in his current division, a move up or down weights would certainly favour Plant.
Rematch? Highly unlikely, Canelo very rarely commits to a rematch, with his sole one coming against Golovkin after their first fight ended in a draw, however it is hard to see Plant asking for the possibility of one after producing a stella display which still wasn’t enough to beat Canelo.
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