Canelo Alvarez vs. Caleb Plant fight: Five biggest storylines to watch ahead of the Showtime PPV in Las Vegas

The biggest name in boxing returns to the ring on Saturday with historic implications at play when pound-for-pound king and unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez takes over the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.  

Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs) will defend his WBA, WBO and WBC titles at 168 pounds against IBF champion Caleb Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) to crown the first undisputed champion in the division’s history. The Showtime PPV event also gained more mainstream interest from a skirmish which broke out between fighters at the Sept. 22 press conference in Los Angeles, which left Plant with a cut below his right eye.  

As we close in on fight night, let’s take a look at the biggest storylines surrounding the Mexican icon’s return.  

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1. No one has come at Canelo quite like this before 

While the buildup to his 2018 rematch against Gennadiy Golovkin turned particularly icy following GGG’s consistent references to Alvarez’s failed drug test, it was nothing compared to the fireworks Plant set off at September’s press conference. Not only did Plant publicly paint Alvarez and his stablemates under trainer Eddy Reynoso as outright cheaters, he incited what would turn into a brief and explosive melee by calling Alvarez a “motherf—er” and responding to his push with a slap. This wasn’t Billy Joe Saunders firing goofy insults at Alvarez during their press conference faceoff or Daniel Jacobs pushing Alvarez after their weigh-in staredown. This was the most aggressive any Alvarez opponent has been to get in his face and let him know they are for real. Plant’s unwillingness to back down also helped the extracurriculars between them go viral, adding an element of bad blood to the…