It started as a press conference. It ended as Beverly Hills 90210.
A late-September get-together to announce a super middleweight title unification matching Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant devolved into a fracas after the two exchanged words, then shoves and would-be punches.
Plant emerged with a cut under his right eye. Alvarez emerged with threats of fight-night mayhem.
The wound has since healed, but the enmity has not.
And the fight-night meeting between the two rivals is suddenly imminent.
Alvarez and Plant will be paid to lay hands on one another on Saturday night in Las Vegas as the main event of a four-bout pay-per-view broadcast produced by Showtime that'll be available for $79.99.
"There have been some guys who lost before the bell even rang against Canelo," Plant said during a virtual press conference in late October. "I think that's why he's so irritated with me. Some guys just come in and are there to hand over their belt, get their check and leave.
"Anyone who knows me, they know I'm only here for those belts."
Showtime's broadcast from the MGM Grand Garden Arena will begin at 9 p.m. ET.
The B/R combat sports team took a head-to-toe look at each principle as an early primer for a weekend extravaganza. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
What: Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
When: November 6
TV: Showtime PPV
What's At Stake: Officially, they're fighting for two armloads full of super middleweight championship bling—including Alvarez's WBA, WBC and WBO belts along with Plant's IBF title strap. Additionally up for grabs is the recognition provided by The Ring, which lists Alvarez as its champion and Plant as the No. 2 contender at super middleweight.
The larger prize, of course, is undisputed four-belt dominion over the 168-pound ranks and the accompanying pound-for-pound and legacy enhancements that come with it. And in no small measure, a claim of superiority in the personal rivalry that manifested itself at the aforementioned press conference in September seems high on each man's list of priorities.
Nickname: "Canelo"
Record: 56-1-2, 38 KOs
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 167.5 pounds*
Reach: 70.5"
Age: 31
Stance: Orthodox
Rounds: 425
All stats per BoxRec.com.
*Official weight at last fight in May 2021.
Nickname: "Sweethands"
Record: 21-0, 12 KOs
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 167.5 pounds*
Reach: 74"
Age: 29
Stance: Orthodox
Rounds: 122
All stats per BoxRec.com.
*Official weight at last fight in January 2021.
Alvarez is by no means a boxing novice.
But if you're going to push the "boxing ability" needle one direction or the other in this fight, it's got to go toward Plant—if for no other reason than it's probably his only path to victory.
The 29-year-old from Tennessee is taller (6'1" to 5'8"), longer (74" reach to 70.5") and faster with his fists than his high-profile opponent, fully embodying his "Sweethands" nickname.
Plant jabs quickly and frequently from an orthodox stance, typically from a starting point with his left hand down near his hip. He also tends to lean forward to draw and elude punches from his opponents before replying with straight or overhand right counters.
He'll often work in combinations punctuated by elusive footwork to avoid prolonged exchanges.
As mentioned, though, Alvarez is hardly unskilled in technique.
He fought much of his early career as a patient and accurate counterpuncher, but he leans more these days toward an aggressive style in which he presses fights, walks his foes down and slows them with body shots.
That approach will be fundamental in limiting Plant's movement, to the point where Alvarez can trap him in corners or along the ropes and deliver more powerful and decisive blows.
The man who's most successful with his strategy will likely be the one who wins.
Advantage: Plant
Cue up the highlights.
The sweeping right hand that dumped James Kirkland. The majestic overhand right that flattened Amir Khan. The wicked liver shots that folded Liam Smith and Rocky Fielding like origami.
Make no mistake, it's not the only facet of his well-rounded game, but that doesn't change the fact that Alvarez is a world-class power hitter both upstairs and downstairs.
He's scored 38 KOs across 56 wins, including 12 in his last 21 victories since he captured his first world championship at 154 pounds back in 2011 and against reigning or past champions like Kermit Cintron, Khan, Liam Smith, Fielding, Sergey Kovalev and Billy Joe Saunders.
As for Plant, well, maybe not so much.
His career KO clip of 57.14 percent isn't exactly "Hands of Stone" material, and just two of his 12 stoppages have come in world title fights, against the middling likes of Mike Lee (TKO 3) and Vincent Feigenbutz (TKO 10)—who'd arrived at their respective bouts having won precisely zero fights against top-10 competition.
Wins over the slightly more familiar likes of Caleb Truax, Jose Uzcategui and Rogelio Medina all went the 12-round route and were as much a product of evasion as concussion.
Bottom line, if this fight is won based on the landing of heavy punches, it won't be Plant's victory.
Advantage: Alvarez
Plant plays defense, but not the smash-mouth type.
His ability to avoid punishment is based on his ability to stay out of range. He'll be light on his feet and move around the ring, popping jabs and one-twos in order to frustrate Alvarez.
Erislandy Lara took that defensive tack to the extreme, avoiding nearly any semblance of conflict in a 2014 bout that was as much a track meet as it was a fight. It was enough to earn him the nod on one official scorecard, and Alvarez himself dubbed the clash "a marathon" in the aftermath of his split-decision win.
Two years and three fights later, Amir Khan tried the same thing until he was knocked unconscious.
Meanwhile, Alvarez slips punches, bobs and moves his head on an elite level, which forces foes to double-down on their efforts to land shots and thus leaves them within range for precise counters. He also uses his feet well to pivot and move in and out of range—allowing him to both defend and attack from angles.
He's never been knocked down and, even in bouts against bombers like Sergey Kovalev and Gennady Golovkin, has never been punished to the point where a loss has seemed imminent.
Advantage: Even
Caleb Plant's X-Factor: Welcome to the Big Time, Kid
It's a fact that Plant is an unbeaten world champion.
He's won 21 straight fights across a seven-year career, including four straight with title belts on the line.
But what's just as true as those things is none of the foes Plant has encountered have been on nearly the level of what he'll see in front of him Saturday night. It's just his fifth fight in the U.S. fight capital in the Nevada desert and the first time he'll share the marquee on a significant pay-per-view card.
If he's everything he says he is, the sudden change in magnitude won't mean a thing.
But if he looks across the ring and suddenly realizes he's in deeper than he's ever been and with more people watching, it might not be pretty.
Canelo Alvarez's X-Factor: Is Plant a Perfect Trap Fight?
Let's face it, Alvarez is the straw that stirs the boxing drink.
He's a hero in his home country, a pound-for-pound stalwart and a proven pay-per-view commodity.
He's fought bigger names for bigger stakes in weight classes both north and south of 168 pounds and emerged victorious all but one time while doing so.
So when it comes to a guy like Plant, who's accomplished essentially nothing in comparison, it'd be understandable if the motivation to maraud on Saturday night might be lagging. Perhaps that's why the press conference turned into a makeshift rumble, so Alvarez could generate the sort of push needed to prepare for a grinding training camp.
Given the tricky nature of Plant's style, anything less than a prime foe could have some problems.
Let's not kid ourselves, Canelo Alvarez is a huge favorite in this one.
And he should be.
He's done more on the championship level. He's fought and beaten better opposition. He's been the sport's pay-per-view stalwart for a while now and seems completely at home on the biggest of stages.
It'd be one thing if Plant was a hell-bent-for-leather slugger who might be able to land a fight-changing blow, but the idea that a stylist—even a young, hungry one—can beat him at this stage seems unlikely.
But not impossible.
"Plant knows better than to think he can win by staying away," former HBO blow-by-blow man Jim Lampley told Bleacher Report when asked if Plant has a path to victory.
"Must split the difference and find some moments to do damage. Those moments are perilous against an elite skill fighter who has increasingly become a destroyer."
Ray Mancini agrees.
The ex-lightweight champ respects Plant—whom he's seen live several times—but wonders if he has anything that can dissuade Alvarez from doing his thing.
"Caleb's a very good technician, has a high boxing IQ, has all the intangibles—heart, desire, intestinal fortitude—but I just don't think that he has the firepower to keep Canelo off of him," he told Bleacher Report. "When I saw that Kovalev couldn't do it, that convinced me that he's taken his game to a whole other level."
It's hard to contest that kind of logic, particularly when it knows what it's looking at.
So let's not.
Prediction: Alvarez stops Plant in the 10th round