Caleb Plant Cut Under Eye After Fight with Canelo Alvarez at Press Conference
Tyler Conway@@jtylerconway
Featured Columnist IVSeptember 21, 2021
Tuesday's press conference between Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant ended in a fight that may put their November bout in jeopardy.
An Alvarez punch landed squarely in Plant's eye, causing a major gash that Mike Coppinger of ESPN said "usually postpones fights" if suffered in training. Alvarez and Plant are slated for one of the year's biggest fights Nov. 6 in Las Vegas.
SHOWTIME Boxing @ShowtimeBoxingHeated face off here before the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CaneloPlant?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CaneloPlant</a> press conference 🤯😳<br><br>Streaming live: <a href="https://t.co/mIPZRjJbFo">https://t.co/mIPZRjJbFo</a> <a href="https://t.co/7WXH6hAQu6">pic.twitter.com/7WXH6hAQu6</a>
Despite fears of a possible postponement, Plant told TMZ that the injury was "a scratch" and wouldn't delay the bout.
Alvarez shoved Plant hard after a war of words, leading to Plant throwing a wild missed punch that Canelo countered with a square shot to his eye.
Plant already is set to enter the bout as a heavy underdog against Alvarez, who is widely seen as the world's best pound-for-pound fighter. The 21-0 IBF super middleweight champion opened as a +550 underdog but has gone on the offensive in the war of words leading up to the bout.
“I like my chances in any fight,” Plant told Lance Pugmire of The Athletic. “If I didn’t believe I can win, y’all wouldn’t have these cameras in my face right now. You guys have made plenty of fight predictions before, but you guys have been wrong. You know how many times I’ve been wrong? None."
Alvarez has only one career loss, against Floyd Mayweather in 2013, but used that fight as a platform to become one of the world's biggest boxing draws.
The winner of the bout will become the first undisputed champion at 168 pounds since the sport expanded to four belts per weight class.