Report by: Damon “Latinbox” Gonzalez
Photo credits: Amanda Westcott/ Showtime 📸
Las Vegas, NV. – Boxing’s King Saul “Canelo” Álvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) scored an 11th round KO at 1:05 seconds over IBF champion Caleb “Sweethands” Plant (21-1, 12 KOs) to unify the WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO super middleweight titles on Saturday night in front of a sold out crowd 16,586 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Canelo Alvarez Post Fight:
“It hasn’t been easy to get to this point, but with your support, my family and my team we’ve gotten really far. This is for everybody, especially for Mexico. This is another one for our team. We did it tonight.
“This means so much for the history of Mexico to become an undisputed champion. There are only six undisputed champions in history. It keeps me happy and very motivated to be one of the six.
“Caleb is a good fighter. I have a lot of respect for Caleb Plant. He was a difficult opponent with a lot of ability and I do respect him. We are both men at the end of the day. He wanted to fight me and still continue. I told him there’s no shame. We had a great fight tonight.
“He was making the fight pretty difficult, but Eddy told me to just stick to the gameplan in the last two rounds. In the end, I got him. That’s the way it had to finish. He was already hurt and I went for the kill.”
Super Middleweight Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (34-2-2, 25 KO’s) from Flint, MI. made a statement tonight by blasting Marcos “Madman”Hernandez (15-5-2, 3 KO’s) from Fresno, CA. with a perfect placed explosive uppercut that rocks Hernandez sending him to the canvas as referee Celestino Ruiz waves off the contest at the official time of :22 seconds of round four by way of TKO victory for Dirrell.
Featherweight Rey Vargas (25-0, 22 KO’s) scores a unanimous decision victory over Leonardo Baez (21-5, 12 KO’s).
Vargas doing what he can be keeping the distance hitting Baez with big shots controlling the pace of the fight.
Accidental headbutt early in round three. Leonardo Baez cut under the right eye.
Vargas maintained control throughout the fight judges scorecards were 99-91, 100-90, 100-90.
Elvis Rodriguez (12-1-1, 11 KO’s) from Santo Domingo stops Juan Pablo Romero (14-1, 9 KO’s) from San Francisco, CA. In five rounds.
Early action Rodriguez keeping good distance established a good jab Ramero cutting his distance throwing a lot of power punches baiting Rodriguez to the ropes.
Rodriguez explodes in round four catching Ramero with straight left hand that hurt Ramero dropping him to a knee, Ramero came back to finish the round on his feet.
Rodriguez crushes Ramero with a hard left hand sending Ramero down ending his night at the official time 2:59 seconds of round five as the referee reaches the count to ten.
Elvis Rodríguez Post Fight:
“I am fully aware that I started out slow in the first two rounds, but then I saw signs of wear and tear on his face and I gained the upper hand.
“Romero is a fast starter by nature, but I’m the other way around. Then I was able to straighten out.
“The division already knows who I am after having seen most of my fights. I suffered a little setback, but I think that everyone knows that Elvis Rodríguez brings powerful, quality punches in each fight.”
Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (29-1-1, 15 KO’s) of Cuba scores a second round knockout at the official time 1:54 seconds over Gustavo “El Perrito”
Vitorri (25-7-1, 12 KO’s) of Argentina.
Super Featherweight Jose “El Gallo” Gomez (12-1, 5 KO’s) scores an eight round unanimous decision victory over Jose “Pepao” Antonio Meza (8-6, 2 KO). All three judges score the contest 76-75.
Super flyweight Fernando “Leoncito”
Diaz (10-1-1, 3 KO’s) of Riverside California scored a fifth round KO over Jan “Nito” Salvatierra (7-1, 3 KO’s) of Los Cabos, Mexico.
2016 Mexican Olympian, flyweight Joselito “El Huracan”
Velazquez (14-0-1, 9 KO’s) dominated Gilberto Mendoza (19-11-3, 10 KO’s) of San Francisco controlling the action in route to winning a eight round unanimous decision. Judges scorecards were 80-72, 80-72, 80-72.
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