The fight between Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant for the undisputed super middleweight championship of the world is still more than a month away. But the two champion boxers have already begun to trade punches.
The two fighters came together in Beverly Hills for the kickoff news conference to promote their upcoming fight. The two men were nose to nose for a staredown when Canelo used both hands to shove Plant forcefully in the chest.
Plant responded with a left hand that grazed Canelo. Canelo returned fire with a two-punch combination that caused a cut on Plant’s cheek.
“The bad thing he said you mf’er,” Canelo, a Mexican native, explains the root of the altercation in English. “You can say whatever you want to me, but not to my mother. That is why I pushed him.”
The small cut under Plant’s right eye did not require medical attention. Canelo was also bleeding from a scratch on his forearm following the altercation.
Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant resumed the news conference. But the tension between them continued to escalate.
Caleb Plant says he does not know why the word he used caused Canelo to become so angry. He says Canelo said the same word during a back and forth with WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade. “But if someone else says mf’er to him, they’re talking about his mom.”
Caleb Plant has used social media to blast Canelo and his camp for weeks. The origin of the conflict is Plant’s assertion that Canelo and other fighters associated with trainer Eddie Reynoso are taking performance-enhancing drugs.
Canelo says the accusations, as well as Plant’s actions, tell more about Plant than himself. “He’s a very insecure person,” Canelo says. “You can see it in his body language.”
Caleb Plant says Canelo, who once tested positive for a banned substance, should focus on himself. “Is taking illegal substances security?”
Canelo Alvarez is 56-1-2 as a professional boxer. His last fight was a TKO victory over Billy Joe Saunders in May.
Caleb Plant is undefeated in 21 professional fights. The last time he was in a boxing ring he earned a unanimous decision victory over Caleb Truax.