Canelo, Charlo bring the love, not the heat to kickoff presser
Undisputed super middleweight champion defends against undisputed junior middleweight champion Sept. 30
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When Canelo Alvarez last worked with Premier Boxing Champions and headlined a Showtime PPV card his opponent for the November 2021 fight was Caleb Plant, who he was to face in a four-belt unification bout to determine the first-ever undisputed super middleweight champion.
Six weeks beforehand, as they kicked off a two-city media tour to promote the fight, they exchanged nasty words and then blows during their introductions of a heated news conference that resulted in Plant bleeding from a cut under his right eye and lucky the wound was not more serious and the fight was not jeopardized.
Now, Alvarez, who knocked out Plant in the 11th round to become the undisputed 168-pound champion, has returned to PBC on a three-fight deal that will commence with a defense against undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, who is moving up two weight classes, on Sept. 30 (Showtime PPV and PPV.com, 8 p.m. ET) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
As is tradition for any major pay-per-view fight, the combatants kicked off their media tour on Tuesday, coming face to face for the first time at an event staged in a theater in New York’s Times Square. They’ll do it again at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on Wednesday.
Hopefully, Day 2 will provide a bit more heat than Day 1 did for a fight that deserves attention and figures to be a very good once when the bell rings.
On one end of the spectrum was the Canelo-Plant fracas that was entirely uncalled for. On the other end of the spectrum was Tuesday’s virtual lovefest that was, to be honest, a bit boring.
Something in between the two episodes would have been ideal.
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