Pound-for-pound kingpin Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez made historical past by changing into the primary four-belt super-middleweight champion when he stopped IBF champion Caleb Plant on Saturday night time in Las Vegas.
“It hasn’t been simple to get so far, however along with your help, my household and my crew we’ve gotten actually far.” Álvarez instructed Showtime.
“That is for everyone, particularly for Mexico. That is one other one for our crew. We did it tonight.”
After ten closely-contested rounds, the struggle got here to a dramatic finish within the eleventh after a trademark left-hook from Canelo momentarily buzzed Plant, with a proper uppercut sending the previously-unbeaten Nashville-native to the canvas for the primary time in his profession.
Plant valiantly returned to his ft, however was by no means capable of get well. Canelo would follow-up mercilessly with a barrage of energy photographs that floored his opponent for a second time, and compelled referee Russell Mora stepped in to place an finish to the motion at 1:05 of the penultimate spherical.
“Caleb is an efficient fighter.” mentioned Canelo.
“I’ve lots of respect for Caleb Plant. He was a tough opponent with lots of capacity and I do respect him. We’re each males on the finish of the day. He needed to struggle me and nonetheless proceed. I instructed him there’s no disgrace. We had an awesome struggle tonight.”
The longer term Corridor of Famer Canelo, 31, already a four-division world champion, slowly broke Plant down over the course of the struggle with a gentle weight loss program of physique photographs. 53 of his 117 landed punches had been to the physique and he landed 40 p.c of his energy photographs general.
It was a history-making night time for boxing’s largest star. Along with changing into the primary undisputed 168-pound champion in historical past, he turned simply the sixth male undisputed champion within the four-belt period and the primary undisputed Mexican fighter in historical past.
“This implies a lot for the historical past of Mexico to grow to be an undisputed champion,” he mentioned.
“There are solely six undisputed champions in historical past. It retains me completely happy and really motivated to be one of many six.” Following the bout, Plant was taken to College Medical Heart as a precaution.
Characteristic picture: Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions
