Final Saturday evening on the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Canelo Alvarez squared off in opposition to Caleb Plant for undisputed tremendous middleweight supremacy.
Canelo was the reigning unified WBA/WBC/WBO tremendous middleweight world champion, and Plant held the IBF model of the belt. Canelo dropped Plant twice in spherical 11 and scored an eleventh spherical technical knockout. The victory supplied Canelo with the distinctive distinction of changing into the one undisputed tremendous middleweight champion in the course of the transient historical past of the comparatively newer weight class.
The victory additionally marked Canelo because the sixth boxer within the 4-belt period to attain undisputed recognition in any weight class. That unique membership additionally consists of Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk, and most lately Josh Taylor, who obtained such recognition at junior welterweight earlier this 12 months.
Though the 168 pound weight class is new within the grand scheme of issues, and despite the fact that it lacks the wealthy historical past of a few of boxing’s extra prestigious weight courses, there have nonetheless been some wonderful boxers to have competed at and handed by means of the division. At first it acted as a house for chubby middleweights and smaller gentle heavyweights, however a whole lot of All Time Nice boxers have fought at 168 together with guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Roy Jones Jr to call just a few.
However the dialogue of the best tremendous middleweights of all time normally focuses totally on three names – Joe Calzaghe, Andre Ward, and the aforementioned Roy Jones Jr. These are the three names that normally prime the checklist relying on who you ask – and this assumes we exclude the entire boxers who predated the 168 pound weight class, like Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore.
How does Canelo stack up in opposition to the Massive 3 in Calzaghe, Ward, and Jones? Canelo simply achieved one thing that none of these three ever did, not one of the grew to become THE undisputed champion at tremendous middleweight. This begs the query…
Is Canelo Alvarez the best tremendous middleweight of all time?
This version of Rummy’s Corner will try and reply that query, whereas taking a fast take a look at the 168 pound credentials of Roy Jones, Joe Calzaghe, Andre Ward, and naturally the person of the hour – Canelo Alvarez himself. For one man’s opinion please watch and benefit from the video.
