The new undisputed champion was as relaxed outside the ring before Caleb Plant fight as he was vicious between the ropes
Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez was so certain that he would beat Caleb Plant and become the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion on Saturday night that he began the week wearing blue silk pyjamas as he stepped off his private jet when he landed in Las Vegas last Monday. The world’s best boxer then posted a photograph of himself in his fetching outfit and, on Twitter, he asked: “You ready Vegas?” By Saturday night a significant corner of this gaudy old gambling town had whipped itself into a frenzy and, in the process, proved it was more than ready for a particularly raucous Mexican party.
Álvarez, as relaxed outside the ring all week as he was vicious between the ropes at the MGM Grand Arena, provided a fascinating study in contrast. He had spent most of Wednesday night playing poker with Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith, the head of boxing at Matchroom Sport, the Essex promotional company which had staged his previous fight, against Billy Joe Saunders, at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in May. Apart from setting a new record attendance for an indoor boxing promotion in America, with a staggering 73,126 fans crammed into that arena, the fight had such a savage ending that Saunders was taken to hospital in an ambulance. His orbital bone had been shattered by a ferocious uppercut from Álvarez.