Canelo Alvarez has solidified his spot as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in modern times, and is set to continue that legacy against William Scull in May.
Canelo will fight William Scull on Cinco De Mayo weekend in his bid to become a two-time undisputed super-middleweight champion. If successful, he will go on to face Terence Crawford in a mega-fight in Saudi Arabia later in the year.
Canelo has faced a whole roster of tough opposition, from Billy Joe Saunders, who KO’d an opponent on KSI vs Logan Paul’s undercard, to Dmitry Bivol, who David Benavidez dropped in sparring allegedly.
One man who managed to rattle Canelo ahead of their fight was none other than Caleb Plant.
Caleb Plant apologized to Canelo for misunderstanding that caused a press conference slap
Canelo and Plant fought in 2021, but tensions reached boiling point in the press conference ahead of the fight, when an angry Alvarez slapped Plant after misunderstanding something he said.
Plant called his Mexican opponent a ‘m———–‘, which Canelo took to mean an insult to his actual mother.
Plant put up a good performance but by the 11th round the writing was on the wall that Canelo would win, and win he did with a triumphant stoppage of the challenger.
Following the fight, Plant and Canelo had a heartfelt moment:
Canelo said: “Don’t be ashamed, you are a great fighter man. And I’m sorry for everything but at the end of the day we are men, and we are human.”
Plant replied: “When I said ‘m———–‘, I would never talk about your mother, because I don’t have a mother, my mom died.”
Plant’s mother was killed by a police officer after an altercation.
Canelo, whose rival Gennadiy Golovkin saved Olympic boxing, accepted Plant’s words: “You have a really good and beautiful family. You are my family.”
Caleb Plant picked himself off the canvas to win comeback fight
After losing to Canelo, Plant defeated Anthony Dirrell, with a brutal celebration after his KO win.
His next fight pitted him against David Benavidez in what was a tale of two halves, with Plant winning the majority of the early rounds, and Benavidez taking over in the second half. Plant lost by unanimous decision to ‘The Mexican Monster’.
He’s had one fight since, on the undercard of Canelo vs Edgar Berlanga, who claims he’s stronger than Mike Tyson.
Plant fought 28-0 Trevor McCumby, and was dropped in the fourth round. He took the durable McCumby the distance, but handed him his first defeat, and put himself back to winning ways.