Canelo, Plant kick off promotion with harsh words, a shove, punches and blood

The cynic would say it was planned. Non-conspiracy theorists would believe it was more spontaneous.

Whatever it was, Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant immediately bought heat to the promotion of their undisputed super middleweight championship fight with a shove and punches that left the two cursing at each other, Plant with a bloody cut under his right eye and everybody involved lucky it wasn’t serious enough to cause the $50 million fight to be postponed.

It all went down moments into the formal part of the news conference on Tuesday outdoors at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, when both men took the stage and were called together for a ceremonial staredown that soon got out of hand.

With the two men nearly nose to nose — with no handlers or security anywhere to be seen, which is absurd — they jawed at each other before Alvarez gave Plant a hard two-handed shove in the chest that sent him reeling backwards.

Plant, who holds the IBF title, regained his balance, marched toward three-belt pound-for-pound king Alvarez and threw left hand that grazed Alvarez, who quickly countered with a left and a right that left Plant cut.

At that point, the stage filled and they were separated but continued to curse each other out in a scene whose video will undoubtedly be played over and over as they hype up their showdown to produce the first-ever undisputed 168-pound world champion of the thee- or four-belt era on Nov. 6 (Showtime PPV) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The rest of the formal program eventually went on once things calmed down, but the tension was obvious and if that is any indication it promises to be a rancor-filled build up to one of the biggest fights of the year.

What ignited the ruckus seems to be a case of something being lost in translation by Mexico’s Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), 31, whose command of English has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years but it by no means perfect.

Plant called Alvarez a “motherfucker” when they were trash talking during the staredown, which Alvarez seemingly took too literally and set him off.

“He was talking about my mother,” Alvarez said. “He said, ‘You motherfucker.’ That’s why I pushed him and he came back with a left hook. That’s what happened. You can say whatever to me, but not to my mom. I’m going to fight anyone who says something about my mom. And he swung first. I just pushed him. He swung first, and I do what I do. He crossed the line.

“It will be over in eight rounds or less. I’m going to knock out this guy. Easy.”

Alvarez’s notion that Plant was literally talking about his mother instead of just lobbing a common, if impolite, slang remark does not appear to hold much water given that Alvarez called WBO middleweight titlist Demetrius Andrade the same thing when Andrade crashed Alvarez’s post-fight news conference after defeating Billy Joe Saunders to unify three titles in May.

Plant, who brought up Alvarez’s use of the term toward Andrade, had to use a towel to stop the bleeding from the cut that was seemingly caused by his sunglasses jamming into his cheek from Alvarez’s blow. Those involved in the fight said the cut was minor, would not require stitches and would not impact the fight.

“We just had some normal back-and-forth banter up there and then whatever happened, happened,” said Plant, who is much taller than Alvarez and towered over him during the face-off. “It’s none of my concern though. I’m focused and locked in on Nov. 6.”

Both fighters had their say during the formal program and in interviews.

Alvarez told Plant, “You are not on my level and you will see on Nov. 6. You don’t want to fight now, I promise you.”

He compared Plant to a pair of fighters he dominated and won world titles from, Callum Smith in December and Saunders in May.

“Caleb might be on the same level as Billy Joe Saunders and Callum Smith, but he’s not on my level,” Alvarez said. “I respect that he isn’t here to back down. You can see from today that this is definitely going to be a good fight.

“I know what I need to do and I know a lot about him. He’s a good fighter but I know my skills. My experience is going to give me the edge in the fight. I have faced similar styles to Caleb’s against Floyd Mayweather, Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout and Saunders. He’s an insecure person and that’s why he came with a lot of excuses about lots of things. I don’t care about it though. I’m just going to do my best on Nov. 6 and win the fight.

 “To be undisputed is history for Mexico and for everyone on my team. To be the undisputed champion is just a great thing for my career.”

Las Vegas-based Plant (21-0, 12 KOs), 29, the heavy underdog, who has taunted Alvarez about his 2018 failed drug test that led to a suspension, clearly has a chip on his shoulder about and wants to prove those who give him little chance to win wrong.

“I know only one thing better than proving people right, and that’s proving people wrong,” Plant said. “I’ve been doing that my whole life. As soon as I stepped on the stage, people started talking about what I can’t accomplish and what I can’t do. Where I come from (the outskirts of Nashville), there is no boxing community. There was no other pro I could look to and say that if he can do it, then I can do it. All I had was my mind and my heart.

“I don’t do this to be famous or to get attention. When I first started, it was just me and my dad. No one thought I’d be standing here today. I can remember him and my grandfather scrounged up a little bit of money to open a little boxing gym. There was just one heavy bag hanging in the corner. But when you really want something, you don’t need all the fancy things. You just need your mind and your heart.

“I know that people don’t believe me when I tell them I’m winning on Nov. 6. All those people who tell me that I can’t do something, you live believable lives and you do believable things. I promised myself that I was going to run this all the way to the top, with no problem crashing and burning along the way. I set out to live an unbelievable life and accomplish unbelievable things. Those people who doubt me are the very reason that I’m here.”

Photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime

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