Canelo Alvarez’s resume review: A look at the meteoric rise of Mexican superstars to a pound of greatness

On Saturday night, the biggest boxing star will return to the ring when he takes on Saul “Canelo” Alvarez against Caleb Plant. The fight is a unification battle to crown the first four-belt middleweight champion. Everything is moving forward Showtime PPV (9pm ET).

Things have already warmed up between Plant and Alvarez, as the clash briefly erupted at a pre-fight press conference. Plant had the worst of that press conference, he suffered a cut under his eye, but the fight was never in danger of being canceled.

These pre-fight trakets were another example of Canelo’s evolution, a fighter who has always had elite skills but has created an evil mark in recent years. Plant is on a fine line between trying to get into Canelo’s head and angering the sport’s main pound fighter, arguably the biggest fight of his career.

This week, Brian Campbell and Luke Thomas took a look at Canelo’s career with an in-depth Resume Review of “Morning Kombat”.

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Let’s take a look at two of Canelo’s career struggles, which CBS Sports experts believe are key moments in defining his career.

vs. Gennady Golovkin II (September 15, 2018): If there was a turning point in Canelo Alvarez’s career that best predicted the dominance that would be the author behind him, it was the 2018 rematch with Gennadiy Golovkin. Angered by GGG’s ongoing allegations of drug fraud, Alvarez assured that he would make adjustments to the rematch, which would leave less doubt about the outcome after the distribution draw discussed last year. Alvarez took on the “Mexican style” that Golovkin was proud of and chose to put directly in front of the Kazakh slugger to give as good as he could in a classic fight. Forcing him to face the persecution and take steps back, Alvarez overcame Golovkin by a majority decision and set a new tone for the kind of destroyer that would go on to become a super-middleweight. – Brian Campbell

Against Billy Joe Saunders (May 8, 2021): I considered talking about the loss of Floyd Mayweather to be a valuable learning experience for Alvarez, but Saunders ’struggle is not only the most recent, it is also the most important in the struggle with Plants. Alvarez once again had a fighter trying to play head games and push-ups, Saunders not only throwing insults but also refusing to fight over disagreements over the size of the ring. Once they were in the ring, Alvarez chased them and put pressure on him until Saunders found his leggings and started picking up a few rounds through solid technical boxing. Alvarez became a one-shot destroyer, however, and faced Saunders ’successful boxing with a single, crushing blow. A fist broke Saunders’ eyeball in three places, and after the eighth round Saunders retired to his chair. How angry does a Canelo play? “I thought, ‘Ooh, it’s a good shot, it’s a good shot.'” Saunders told TalkSport. “And I started bouncing, but my eye fell under the lid. I could see two or three all the time and within 30 seconds I realized it wasn’t my legs, it was my eye.” Plant is playing with a serious fire by angering the Mexican superstar. – Brent Brookhouse

Who wins Canelo vs Plant? And what props are essential? Visit SportsLine now to see Brandon Wise’s best bets for Saturday, all by the hand of a CBS wrestling sports specialist who stepped up his boxing opportunities in 2021, and find out.