Final Saturday evening on the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Canelo Alvarez squared off towards Caleb Plant for undisputed tremendous middleweight supremacy.
Canelo was the reigning unified WBA/WBC/WBO tremendous middleweight world champion, and Plant held the IBF model of the belt. Canelo dropped Plant twice in spherical 11 and scored an eleventh spherical technical knockout. The victory offered Canelo with the distinctive distinction of turning into the one undisputed tremendous middleweight champion in the course of the temporary historical past of the comparatively newer weight class.
The victory additionally marked Canelo because the sixth boxer within the 4-belt period to realize undisputed recognition in any weight class. That unique membership additionally contains Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, Terence Crawford, Oleksandr Usyk, and most just lately Josh Taylor, who acquired such recognition at junior welterweight earlier this 12 months.
Despite the fact that the 168 pound weight class is new within the grand scheme of issues, and despite the fact that it lacks the wealthy historical past of a few of boxing’s extra prestigious weight courses, there have nonetheless been some glorious boxers to have competed at and handed by the division. At first it acted as a house for obese middleweights and smaller gentle heavyweights, however plenty of All Time Nice boxers have fought at 168 together with guys like Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, and Roy Jones Jr to call just a few.
However the dialogue of the best tremendous middleweights of all time often focuses totally on three names – Joe Calzaghe, Andre Ward, and the aforementioned Roy Jones Jr. These are the three names that often prime the record relying on who you ask – and this assumes we exclude all the boxers who predated the 168 pound weight class, like Ezzard Charles and Archie Moore.
How does Canelo stack up towards the Large 3 in Calzaghe, Ward, and Jones? Canelo simply achieved one thing that none of these three ever did, not one of the turned THE undisputed champion at tremendous middleweight. This begs the query…
Is Canelo Alvarez the best tremendous middleweight of all time?
This version of Rummy’s Corner will try and reply that query, whereas taking a fast take a look at the 168 pound credentials of Roy Jones, Joe Calzaghe, Andre Ward, and naturally the person of the hour – Canelo Alvarez himself. For one man’s opinion please watch and benefit from the video.
