Canelo Álvarez and Caleb “Sweethands” Plant met yesterday in Los Angeles for a press conference to announce their super middleweight unification bout. As is with most things in boxing – things did not go as planned! This time the long-storied tradition of the face off went off the rails when the two champs started trading blows.
Their respective teams rushed the stage to separate the combatants. Although the scuffle left Plant bruised, the two fighters did manage to answer a few questions. Chief among them their thoughts on each other, a chance to make history and of course, what made them come to blows before the bell rings!
Canelo On…
Caleb Plant
“Caleb might be on the same level as Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith, but he’s not on my level. I respect that he isn’t here to back down. You can see from today that this is definitely going to be a good fight.”
“I know what I need to do, and I know a lot about him. He’s a good fighter but I know my skills. My experience is going to give me the edge in the fight. I have faced similar styles to Caleb’s against Floyd Mayweather, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and Saunders.”
“He’s an insecure person and that’s why he came with a lot of excuses about lots of things. I don’t care about it though. I’m just going to do my best on November 6 and win the fight. It will be over in eight rounds or less. I’m going to knock out this guy. Easy.”
His Career & Making History
“We come from nothing, and we worked hard to be here. For somebody to lie and talk trash about us, that upset Eddy. It is what it is though. We just have to show everyone who we are on November 6.”
“To be undisputed is history for Mexico and for everyone on my team. To be the undisputed champion is just a great thing for my career.”
The Press Conference Brawl
According to Canelo the blows started when Plant made some disparaging remarks about his mother. Telling us “You can say whatever to me, but not to my mom. I’m going to fight anyone who says something about my mom. And he swung first. I just pushed him. He swung first, and I do what I do. He crossed the line.”
Caleb Plant On…
Canelo
“Miguel Cotto’s brother can make [him] do the chicken dance but I can’t? Okay. Mark my words, on November 6 you will hear the words, ‘And the new undisputed super middleweight champion,’ but you will also hear the words, ‘and still undefeated.’”
His Career & Making History
“When I first started, it was just me and my dad. No one thought I’d be standing here today. I can remember him, and my grandfather scrounged up a little bit of money to open a little boxing gym. There was just one heavy bag hanging in the corner. But when you really want something, you don’t need all the fancy things. You just need your mind and your heart.”
“I know that people don’t believe me when I tell them I’m winning on November 6. All those people who tell me that I can’t do something, you live believable lives, and you do believable things. I promised myself that I was going to run this all the way to the top, with no problem crashing and burning along the way. I set out to live an unbelievable life and accomplish unbelievable things. Those people who doubt me are the very reason that I’m here.”
“Being undisputed would mean a lot. I’ve sacrificed so much to this sport, and I’ve been doing this a long time. All that work would come down to one moment. I want my name in those history books and that’s the only reason that I’m here.”
The Press Conference Brawl
Apparently, the brawl meant much less to Plant, as he stated, “we just had some normal back-and-forth banter up there and then whatever happened, happened. It’s none of my concern though. I’m focused and locked in on November 6.”
Pound-For-Pound King Canelo Álvarez and Undefeated Champion Caleb Plant meet on Saturday, November 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.