Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Caleb Plant’s first press conference to promote their world super-middleweight unification fight turned violent on Tuesday as the pair traded blows.
Mexican Alvarez, 31, shoved Plant in the chest, sending the unbeaten American staggering across the stage.
Alvarez then evaded a punch from Plant before landing two of his own to cut the 29-year-old under his right eye.
The fight takes place in Las Vegas on 6 November.
Alvarez is the current WBC, WBA and WBO title holder, having beaten British boxers Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders to win the belts, while Plant holds the IBF version.
When the pair came out again at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills following their initial altercation, Plant accused Alvarez of being a “drug cheat”, a reference to Alvarez’s positive test for a banned steroid in 2018.
“Don’t make excuses before the fight,” responded Alvarez, who has lost just once in 59 professional fights.
He also claimed the brawl had been instigated by Plant insulting his mother.
“He can say whatever he wants to me, but not to my mum,” Alvarez said. “He swung, I just pushed him.”
Tennessee native Plant, who holds a 21-0 record, aimed a left hook at Alvarez after he was pushed and blamed the melee on his rival.
“All we was doing was staring at each other. He had something to say, I had something to say. He’s going to beat me, I’m going beat him,” he said.
“And then he did what he did.”
