Whilst anticipation builds in north London ahead of Saturday night's huge heavyweight bout between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, across the pond, meanwhile, the hype for Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez versus Caleb Plant builds.Having been announced last month, the fight billed simply as 'Undisputed' will determine the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history, with the American IBF holder set to challenge Alvarez for his WBA super, WBO, WBC and Ring titles at the MGM Grand in Paradise, Nevada on November 6.On Tuesday, both men faced off in front of the media for the first time and the sparks flew. As a suit-bedecked Plant walked on stage to face the Mexican, the 29-year-old from Tennessee wasted little time in making his presence felt, throwing a left hand in the direction of the four-weight champion, as a brawl ensued. It was an intense first altercation between the two men, though, perhaps not in the manner it first appeared.Certainly from the perspective of UK Correspondent for Thaboxingvoice JackIsTheTruth as he posted footage of the melee on social mediaPosting a video on Twitter, 'Jack' commented: "At least Canelo and Caleb had the presence of mind to use open hands."
A slow motion capture of the incident - the result of which saw Plant sustain a cut to his eye - appears to show Plant's initial joust having landed on Canelo, though, not with the same force it might have intended, with footage indicating more of a 'slap' rather than a 'punch' on the part of the IBF champ.
Plenty of people have been saying on social media that slaps were thrown instead of punches in order to protect their knuckles ahead of the fight in November.
Whether with malign intent or not, Plant has ably stirred the pot, now with the rare opportunity for fans to experience a Mexican-American cross-border clash.
For Canelo, meanwhile, the 31-year-old from Guadalajara will reach a milestone 60th career fight in November when he fights the 21-0 unbeaten, 12 KO "Sweet Hands", after his own defeat of namesake Caleb Traux in Los Angeles back in January.
With the fight still some six weeks off, the first meeting between the duo is sure to stoke the fires ahead of what could a spicy showdown later in the year.
And this time, the fists will fly.