Canelo and Plant come to blows in pre-fight presser

Spraks flew in the preflight stare down between Canelo Alvarez and Caleb Plant as both came to blows during the press conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The fight may be a over a month away, but the bad blood between the two spilled over on stage after Alvarez claimed that Plant called him a “mother—-er.” Alvarez responded with a push to the chest of Plant, and the two then traded blows as cameramen and other members of the media watched on.

Trash talk is a part of the sport of boxing especially in the lead up when promoters and boxers are trying to sell a fight, but Alvarez said Plant broke the golden rule, no mama talk. “He started talking a lot of things," Alvarez said. "I answered. Then the bad thing he said, 'You motherf---er.' You can say whatever you want to me, but not to my mother. My mother is not here."

First blood comes more than a month early

Both were left bleeding after the on-stage scuffle, and the two would have to be separated again before the press conference came to a close.

Canelo said his boxing instincts kicked in after Plant threw the first punch, "He landed first," Alvarez said. "And then I don't know how, but I responded quickly. I don't know how. I just do it."

Plant used some past history to defend himself, and the use of the term that offended Alvarez. He recalled the Mexican fighter using the same term in the post fight press conference with Demetirus Andrade. "Wasn't he saying that?" Plant said. "But now all of a sudden those words mean something completely different? ... Now all of a sudden I'm talking about his mama? C'mon man. That don't even make no sense."

Plant says his sunglasses cut him, not Canelo

Alvarez is widely considered the top pound-for-pound fighter in the sport at the moment, and the hard hitting right hander got a clean shot on his Nov. 6th opponent. Plant claims the cut is more from the sunglasses he was wearing rather than the Canelo connection.

"It's a fight," Plant said of the skirmish. "If he's gonna turn it into a fight, then that's what it is. I'm not no punk. You don't just get to stand up here and do whatever you want to me. Maybe the rest of these guys, you can just come up here and they're all scared of you. ... That's not how this works."

Much of the bad blood comes from Plant’s accusations of the use performance-enhancing drugs in his oppnents camp after Alvarez’s training partner Oscar Valdez tested positive for a banned substance. Valdez was not suspended, but Canelo didn’t share the same luck in 2018 when he was suspended six months for taking a banned substance.

Plant's allegations of doping fuels the fire

"Does that stem from insecurity? Because taking illegal substances, that doesn't stem from confidence. That stems from fear.” Plant continued, "He may be upset with me, but there's no need to be upset with me. He should be upset with himself. There's nothing I've done. These aren't by my rules and my standards."

Plant is undefeated in his professional career at 21-0 with 12 KOs, while Alvarez is 56-1-2 with 38 KOs.

The two are scheduled to fight for the unified super middleweight title in Las Vegas on November 6th.