Live in Las Vegas at Canelo-Plant

And assorted other boxing notes

LAS VEGAS – It’s fight day! And it’s a big one.

Pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez, boxing’s No. 1 star, and Caleb Plant will meet to make boxing history on Saturday night (Showtime PPV, 9 ET, $79.95) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Assuming there is no draw or freaky no decision — cross your fingers and toes — the winner will walk away with a ton of hardware: The Ring super middleweight title and all four sanctioning body bets as the first undisputed champion in the history of the 168-pound division, in either the three- or four-belt era.

I’ve been writing all week on the fight for RingTV, Ring magazine’s website, and been here since Wednesday. It’s been a great week and it was tremendous to finally have fans allowed back at a Las Vegas weigh-in for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Even Mike Tyson was on had for the weigh-in and we had a chance to catch up after having not seen each other for a few years.

OK, on to the coverage:

Alvarez and Plant keep grudge going during intense weigh-in: https://www.ringtv.com/629839-canelo-alvarez-and-caleb-plant-keep-grudge-going-during-intense-public-weigh-in/

Canelo takes aim at history, reveals biggest career victory so far: https://www.ringtv.com/629748-canelo-alvarez-takes-aim-at-history-reveals-biggest-career-victory-so-far/

Free agent Alvarez working with PBC, but open to deals with Matchroom and Top Rank: https://www.ringtv.com/629784-canelo-and-eddy-reynoso-believe-short-term-promotional-deals-are-key-to-landing-big-fights/

Big fight notebook: No Boxing No Life: Canelo vows to stay active: https://www.ringtv.com/629822-notebook-no-boxing-no-life-canelo-vows-to-stay-active/

Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza: No chance of putting Canelo-Plant on hold until end of competing UFC 268: https://www.ringtv.com/629814-showtimes-stephen-espinoza-no-chance-of-putting-canelo-plant-on-hold-until-the-end-of-ufc-268/

Canelo, Plant keep it professional at final press conference: https://www.ringtv.com/629744-canelo-and-plant-keep-it-professional-at-final-press-conference/

Former junior featherweight titlist Rey Vargas, returning at featherweight after a 2½-year layoff,  promises to pick up where he left off, wants Gary Russell Jr.: https://www.ringtv.com/629809-vargas-promises-to-pick-up-where-he-left-off-and-wants-gary-russell/

Boxing Social appearance

I joined my friends at Boxing Social from the Canelo-Plant media center to discuss the fight, as well as the prospect of a Tyson Fury-Dillian Whyte fight, the upcoming Teofimo Lopez-George Kambosos Jr. lightweight championship fight, the Devin Haney-Joseph Diaz Jr. lightweight title bout and the change of opponent for Gervonta Davis to Isaac Cruz. Please watch the video here:

iFL TV appearance

I also joined my friends at iFL TV inside the media center to discuss several topics: Canelo-Plant, Canelo’s legacy and what might be next, as well as Anthony Joshua meeting with potential new trainers in the United States and thoughts on the potential Fury-Whyte fight. Check that video out here:

Mayer unifies in slugfest

In an all-out slugfest, Mikaela Mayer got the better of Maiva Hamadouche to win a unanimous decision and unify the WBO and IBF women’s junior lightweight world titles in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ on Friday night at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Mayer also won the first Ring magazine women’s 130-pound championship.

From the opening bell to the final one, they traded shots in one fierce exchange after another. In the end, Mayer won by surprisingly wide scores of 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92. Most at ringside had the fight a bit closer, but nobody debated that Mayer was the rightful winner.

“(I showed) I could bang it out on the inside,” Mayer said. “That wasn’t really the entire game plan. The game plan was to use my jab, but in the back of my head, I knew she was going to keep it close, keep me on the inside. Even though we trained for that, just being able to do that for 10 straight rounds taught me a lot.

“This is everything I trained for. It really hasn’t even sunk in, but I’m proud of what I did. I’m proud of my team. We’re going to celebrate this one, for sure.”

Mayer (16-0, 5 KOs), 30, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from of Los Angeles, was making her second title defense since winning the vacant WBO belt last October. She threw far fewer punches than Hamadouche but was much more accurate and also landed many more body shots (78-13). According to CompuBox statistics, Mayer landed 239 of 594 punches overall (40 percent) and Hamadouche landed 233 of 872 (27 percent).

Hamadouche (22-2, 18 KOs), 31, of France, was making her seventh IBF title defense.

“This was a sensational fight, one of the best fights of the year, male or female,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “These two ladies are a credit to the sport, and they left it all in the ring. It was a close fight, but I felt Mikaela did more than enough to have her hand raised.”

Mayer hopes to further unify the division next.

“I really wanted to show everyone in the division and the naysayers that (said) I didn’t have the power and the grit to stay in there for 10 rounds with Hamadouche that I am the best in the division,” Mayer said. “I am coming to be undisputed, and I want the big fights. I’m definitely a threat.”

In an undercard bout, lightweight Abdullah Mason (1-0, 1 KO), a highly touted 17-year-old southpaw from Cleveland, made his professional debut by knocking out Atlanta native Jaylan Phillips (1-1, 1 KO), 22, in the second round. Mason had Phillips pinned against the ropes and unloaded a series of shots that buckled Phillips’ knees and caused referee Robert Hoyle to step in at 2 minutes, 9 seconds.

Quick hits

Former three-division champion and Hall of Famer Marco Antonio Barrera will face former two-divsion titlist, Mexican countryman and friend Daniel Ponce De Leon in a six-round junior middleweight exhibition, including wearing 16-ounce glove, on Nov. 20 (FITE, 7:30 p.m. ET, $9.99) at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino in Mescalero, New Mexico. Four other bouts are also part of the PPV, which is being promoted by Teresa Tapia, Johnny Tapia’s widow, and Golden Boy. When Barrera-Ponce De Leon was originally announced it was stated it would be an official fight, but it is not. Barrera (67-7, 44 KOs), 47, who has been retired since 2011, fought a six-round exhibition against Jesus Soto Karass in June. De Leon (45-7, 35 KOs), 41, who has been retired since 2014.

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Junior middleweight Kerman Lejarraga (33-2, 25 KOs), 29, an all-action fighter, will make the first defense of his European title against Jack Flatley (17-1-1, 4 KOs), 27, of England, on Dec. 3 (DAZN) at Bilbao Arena in Bilbao, Spain, Lejarraga’s hometown. Also on the card, Damian Biacho (11-0, 2 KOs) will face Spanish countryman Guillermo Rivero (8-0-1, 1 KO) in a 10-rounder for the Spanish super middleweight title. Lightweight Campbell Hatton (4-0, 0 KOs), 20, of England, the son of British legend Ricky Hatton, will also be on the card.

Show and tell

As you surely know by now, Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant meet in one of the biggest fights of the year on Saturday night. I’m pumped to see history made with the winner being crowed the first-ever undisputed super middleweight champion. It would not be a big fight without a nice program. Here’s the official program — including cards of both fighters inside — that is being sold in the hotel gift shop this week and at the arena on fight night. I wrote most of the program.

Canelo-Plant photo: Esther Lin/Showtime; Mayer photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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