Saul Canelo says that Caleb Plant earned his respect after he defeated him to become the undisputed.
The Mexican star had brawled with Plant at a press conference, but Canelo had the final word in their dispute as he demolished the American in the 11th round to unify the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF super-middleweight titles in Las Vegas.
While speaking after the fight Canelo hailed his opponent after a tough fight
“Definitely my respect for Caleb Plant, he’s a very difficult fighter, he had a lot of ability,” said Canelo.
“I do respect the fighter.
“He wanted to still fight me, he wanted to still continue. I told him, ‘There’s no shame, we had a great fight today.’
“He did say sorry, that he didn’t mean it that way. Everything is OK.”
A left hook sent Plant wilting to the canvas before Canelo finished the fight with a brutal assault.
“He was making it a little difficult, but [trainer] Eddy [Reynoso] told me to stick with the game-plan, the last two rounds, and at the end I got him,” said Canelo.
“That’s the way it had to finish. He was already very hurt.”
Canelo is only the sixth champion and the first from Mexico to hold every title in the four-belt era.
“It hasn’t been easy to get to this point, but with your support, my family, my team, we’ve got really far,” he said.
“This is for everybody, especially for Mexico. It’s another win for our team, but we did it tonight.
“There are only six. It keeps me happy, very motivated to be one of the six undisputed champions of the world.”
