By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
History has been made.
Already recognized as the current pound-for-pound king of boxing, Canelo Alvarez added another milestone to his storied career and became the sports’ first-ever undisputed champion of the super middleweight division after taking care of challenger Caleb “Sweet Hands” Plant with an 11th-round technical knockout stoppage that earned him the International Boxing Federation (IBF) super middleweight championship belt.
Alvarez is now the undisputed king of the 168-lbs. division and is the current belt-holder of the WBA, WBC, WBO, and the IBF organizations aside from being the first Mexican to become an undisputed boxing champion.
However, the job wasn’t easy for the heavily-favored Alvarez as Plant proved why he was called “Sweet Hands.”
In the early rounds of the slugfest, Plant stood by his game plan and proved he was an effective outside puncher, sneaking in jabs whenever the Mexican champion attempted to go in.
Plant continued his patience and shrugged off Alvarez’s offense by displaying tremendous defense in the middle rounds that kept him within striking distance.
However, when the sixth round began, Alvarez began to step on the gas pedal and was quicker with his attacks, one of the biggest reasons why Plant was starting to get hit despite backpedaling from the Mexican attack.
From there, Alvarez was able to negate the reach advantage that Plant used to score in the early rounds of the fight and completely took over.
Plant showed determination and grit in the next rounds but Alvarez’s power was just too much for “Sweet Hands’ to handle.
The finale came in the eleventh round when a surging Alvarez caught an exhausted Plant with a booming left hook that caused him to drop to his knees – his first-ever career knockdown.
Wobbling after the eight-second count, Alvarez wasted no time and rained down punches on the struggling Plant which led to the official stoppage.
With the win in hand, Alvarez then climbed the ropes and embraced the moment as the people cheered for him after another spectacular performance.
The huge victory helped Alvarez improve his professional record to 57 wins, one loss, and 39 knockouts while Plant tasted his first pro defeat in 22 bouts.
