Last month, Canelo Alvarez spoke more with his hands than his mouth.
Canelo landed two punches on Caleb Plant at the start of their press conference.
The Mexican champion has promised an emphatic, impressive victory November 6 in Las Vegas.
Alvarez, who is regularly listed as at least an 8-1 favorite versus Plant, predicts that he’ll knock out his undefeated opponent even sooner than he stopped another unbeaten 168-pound champion in his last fight.
“I’m gonna knock out this guy in less than eight rounds,” Alvarez said. “Easy!”
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) stopped England’s Billy Joe Saunders (30-1, 14 KOs) after the eighth round May 8 at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Saunders suffered a fractured orbital bone around his right eye in the eighth round, which prevented him from continuing in their 12-round fight for Alvarez’s WBA and WBC championships and Saunders’ WBO belt.
Las Vegas’ Plant and Alvarez uncharacteristically struck each other after talking trash at the start of their press conference in Beverly Hills, California.
Alvarez initiated the contact when he pushed Plant with both hands in Plant’s chest, which knocked the IBF super middleweight champion halfway across the stage outside of the Beverly Hilton. When Plant regained his footing, he moved toward Alvarez, swung and grazed the WBA/WBC/WBO champion with his open left hand.
An alert Alvarez rolled away from that slap and very quickly landed a left hand and then a right hand. Alvarez’s left to Plant’s face opened a significant cut beneath Plant’s right eye because Plant’s sunglasses lacerated his skin.
The 31-year-old Alvarez downplayed the incident after the press conference during an interview with Showtime’s “Morning Kombat” co-hosts Brian Campbell and Luke Thomas.
Alvarez also explained to Thomas why he believes he’ll stop the 29-year-old Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) inside of eight rounds.
“Because I know what I need to do, and I know him,” Alvarez said. “So, he’s a good fighter, but I know my skills and I know my experience is gonna be the best [on] the night.”
–boxingscene.com
