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Mike CoppingerESPN
Canelo Alvarez faces Caleb Plant on Saturday (Showtime PPV, 9 p.m. ET, prelims at 6 p.m. ET) and all four major super middleweight title belts are on the line. The bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, will be for Alvarez’s WBA, WBO and WBC titles and Plant’s IBF title.
Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), 31, of Guadalajara, Mexico, is a four-division world champion. He won the WBA and WBC belts in December with decision victory over then unbeaten Callum Smith. He then added the WBO title with a TKO victory against Billy Joe Saunders in May in Arlington, Texas.
Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), 29, of Nashville, Tennessee, defeated Jose Uzcategui in 2019 to win the IBF strap, and has defended the belt three times. Plant has fought the majority of his career at 168 pounds.
The winner of Alvarez-Plant will become the first undisputed champion at super middleweight in the four-belt era.
Follow along with Mike Coppinger throughout the night for live results and analysis.
Fight in progress: Jose Gomez vs. Jose Antonio Meza, 8 rounds, junior lightweights
Results:
Barthelemy stops Vittori in Round 2
Former two-division champion Rances Barthelemy scored a second-round knockout of Gustavo Vittori in a junior welterweight bout, as he looks to climb the ranks and get a second shot at a title in a third weight class.
The 36-year-old Cuban fighter, who held world titles at 130 and 135 and unsuccessfully challenged for a world title at 140, handled the Argentine journeyman with ease in a total mismatch to kick off the Canelo-Plant prelims.
Barthelemy (29-1-1, 14 KOs) hasn’t boxed in a notable bout since a lackluster draw with Robert Easter Jr. in April 2019, a Showtime main event. Vittori (25-10-1, 12 KOs) has now lost eight of his past 13 fights.
Still to come:
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Title fight: Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant, 12 rounds, for Alvarez’s WBC, WBO and WBA super middleweight titles, and Plant’s IBF super middleweight title
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Anthony Dirrell vs. Marcos Hernandez, 10 rounds, super middleweights
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Rey Vargas vs. Leonardo Baez, 10 rounds, junior featherweights
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Elvis Rodriguez vs. Juan Pablo Romero, 10 rounds, junior welterweights
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Joselito Velazquez vs. Gilberto Mendoza, 8 rounds, flyweights
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Jan Salvatierra vs. Fernando Diaz, 6 rounds, junior bantamweights