Canelo Alvarez Knocks Out Caleb Plant To Unify Super-Middleweight Title

Plant, however, promised a different skill set and different outcome.

“Smith is not the boxer that I am. He don’t have the skills that I have,” Plant said in an interview in October. “That’s what those guys did, but those guys aren’t me.”

But soon after the opening bell, the fight fell into a familiar pattern.

Plant circled and retreated and used his jab to keep Álvarez at a distance. Álvarez stalked Plant, deflecting as many jabs as he could, developing a sense of Plant’s timing and looking to win by attrition. Álvarez is less a slow starter than a patient one, happy to land heavy blows that will drain opponents later.

In Round 4, he landed a left hand to Plant’s forehead that sent sweat flying. Four rounds later, a looping right hand went over the top of Plant’s defense. In the 10th, Plant fought more aggressively but absorbed harder punches than he landed.

Another left hook to the head started the sequence that dropped Plant. The knockdown was the first of his career. Another salvo from Álvarez put Plant down face first, prompting referee Russell Mora to stop the fight.

“He’s a great fighter,” Álvarez said. “We don’t have to take any credit from him.”

According to CompuBox, Álvarez landed 117 of 361 punches, but only 15 jabs. The rest of his connections were power punches — left hooks, right hands and uppercuts. Of the 101 punches Plant landed, 59 were jabs.

One of those shots landed hard enough to make a mark on Álvarez’s right cheek. But none of Plant’s punches could stop Álvarez from taking the I.B.F. title, and becoming a rare undisputed champion.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/07/sports/canelo-alvarez-caleb-plant-results.html