Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez made history by beating Caleb Plant to become the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion.
The 31-year-old knocked out Plant in the 11th round to unify all four major belts in fewer than 12 months on Saturday in Las Vegas.
The Mexican added Plant’s IBF belt to the WBA Super, WBC and WBO ones he already held.
Alvarez knocked the American down twice in the 11th round, first with a left hook and then followed with a right uppercut.
Although Plant got up, Alvarez kept attacking which led to finishing the fight with one minute and five seconds of the round remaining.
Alvarez said Plant wanted to keep going but he told him he should stop.
“He wanted to continue. I told him there is no shame. Of course, I came out on top,” said Alvarez.
“Caleb is a good fighter. He was a difficult opponent with a lot of ability and I do respect him.”
With this win, Alvarez improved to 57 wins, one defeat and two draws, with 39 knockouts, as he handed Plant the first defeat of his career.
“He was making the fight pretty difficult, but Eddy [Reynoso, trainer] told me to just stick to the gameplan in the last two rounds. In the end, I got him. That’s the way it had to finish. He was already hurt and I went for the kill.”
Alvarez had won just about every round leading up to the 11th but Plant proved to be a tough opponent but by the 10th round, Plant’s jab had disappeared and he couldn’t get through the Alvarez defense.
The win for Alvarez means he becomes the first Mexican and only the sixth fighter since the WBO began sanctioning world-title fights in 1988 to hold all four belts from the separate governing bodies at the same time.
