I seem to say this every time Saul Alvarez fights, but we are witnessing something special with this guy and, if you’re still pouting over Canelo hype and his red carpet treatment in the past, you’re really missing out.
With Alvarez’s eleventh round TKO of Caleb Plant Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, he not only became the first-ever 4-belt unified world super middleweight champ and the first Latin American to unify 4 belts in a division, he also capped off a truly bad-ass 11-month run.
In those eleven months, the Guadalajara native notched decisive victories over three of the top four super middleweights in the world, as well as a WBC mandatory contender. This, in an era where most top fighters only get into the ring once or twice a year and rarely in consecutive bouts against true top 3 opposition.
If you’re not giving Canelo full respect and recognition by now, you’re as stubbornly loony as QAnon nut jobs waiting in the hot sun at Dealey Plaza in Dallas for JFK Jr. to return from the dead.
As for the fight, itself?
Well, I was right in my belief that it wouldn’t be a walk in the park for the 12-to-1 betting favorite, Alvarez.
Plant did some good work in there and, despite what the broadcast crew apparently saw, I had the fight fairly close right up until the very end. If Plant had more power and was able to sting Alvarez more frequently, I think we may have seen a different outcome. But, I know, ifs and buts, right? If Dan Rafael was a sexy, female, Colombian singer, he’d be Shakira.
Alvarez may have had some moments where Plant’s movement, angles, and jab threw him off a bit, but he was never discouraged and he never deviated from his game plan. He just continued to put pressure on Plant and continued doing his thing until he finally landed kill shots that came in the form of a right uppercut and left uppercut in the eleventh round.
It was the kind of masterful, patient performance delivered by someone who knows he’s at the top of the boxing food chain and carries the self-confidence of greatness into battle.
What’s next for the 31-year-old depends on where he decides to take the Canelo Show. As a promotional free agent, who is, simultaneously, the biggest draw in the sport, he finds himself in the exceedingly rare Floyd Mayweather zone when it comes to business options. He can offer his services to the highest bidder and make a killing at the expense of boxing companies eager and hungry for the juice his name value brings.
If he sticks with PBC, he can step into a pretty bankable Jermall Charlo bout at 168 or a David Benavidez challenge, also at 168. If he goes to DAZN, he could move back up to light heavyweight and face WBA champ Dmitry Bivol. At 175, there’s also IBF/WBC champ Artur Beterbiev and WBO titlist Joe Smith Jr. There’s even the option of revisiting his rivalry with Gennadiy Golovkin, although that seems less and less likely.
Realistically, Alvarez is big enough to pick any fight he wants and stage that fight anywhere he wants. The only problem is that, beyond the names mentioned above, there’s just not much else. Maybe we see him take a gimme of sorts in a celebratory homecoming fight in Mexico, matched against an Anthony Dirrell/David Lemieux-level opponent. It’s hard to argue against him having earned a feel-good homecoming after this last 11-month run.
But before letting this Canelo victory settle into the boxing background, we have to touch on Caleb Plant and some inconvenient truths that popped up during his rise to this main stage opportunity.
The complete disrespect and disregard for Plant’s skills all throughout the buildup to the fight and in the immediate aftermath is symptomatic of the sorry state of American boxing fandom and the boxing media. Even a semi-trained eye can see that the guy has legitimate skill and does a lot of crafty things in the ring. The problem is that most fans don’t know what they’re watching and don’t care to learn…and the media is often more clueless in that regard.
Let’s also talk about the well-established fact that American fans don’t support American fighters. The Brits were all over Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders when they fought Alvarez, giving credit for their abilities and talking up the chances of an upset. American fight fans just roll over or, worse yet, work diligently to bury their own fighters. This lack of support for the homegrown talent is one of the reasons the American boxing scene is perpetually stale. A guy like Plant, who built himself up from the very bottom and walked through hell to get to where he is, should be a folk hero of sorts among fight fans. Stories like his used to resonate with fans. They don’t anymore. Instead, everything is just jaded, cynical, and dismissive. Walking through the social media boxing world these days is like a trip through a raw sewage plant– as the employees toss buckets of slop at you.
It’s a shame, really, because both of the fighters we saw on Saturday deserve better and, in turn, fans deserve to see both in proper perspective.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com