LAS VEGAS – Canelo Alvarez violently broke down Caleb Plant on his way to making the type of history Saturday night that means the most to the Mexican icon.

Alvarez battered Plant, dropped him twice early in the 11th round and stopped his previously unbeaten opponent to become boxing’s first fully unified super middleweight champion in the sport’s four-belt era. Referee Russell Mora declared Alvarez the winner of their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event 1:05 into the 11th round, much to the satisfaction of a capacity crowd of 16,586 at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The skillful Plant displayed toughness by taking a lot of Alvarez’s hardest shots and made him miss at times. Otherwise, though, Alvarez persistently pressured Plant, brutalized the backtracking ex-champion to the body and eventually knocked out a fighter that didn’t have the power to keep Alvarez off of him.

Alvarez, who went off as a 7-1 favorite according to the BetMGM Sportsbook, retained his WBA, WBC and WBO 168-pound championships and captured the IBF belt from Plant. Judges Steve Weisfeld (98-92), Dave Moretti (97-93) and Patricia Morse Jarman (96-94) had Alvarez ahead entering that fateful 11th round.

“Caleb is a good fighter,” Alvarez told Showtime’s Jim Gray in the ring following his win. “I have a lot of respect for Caleb Plant. He was a difficult opponent, with a lot of ability, and I do respect him. We are both men at the end of the day. He wanted to fight me and still continue. I told him there’s no shame. We had a great fight tonight.”

Plant was taken to nearby University Medical Center for observation and was not available for comment following his first defeat.

By beating Plant, Alvarez also became just the sixth fully unified champion in any division during boxing’s four-belt era. Retired middleweights Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor, former undisputed junior welterweight champ Terence Crawford, former undisputed cruiserweight champ Oleksandr Usyk and current undisputed junior welterweight champ Josh Taylor were the first five fighters to accomplish that feat.

“This means so much for the history of Mexico to become an undisputed champion,” Alvarez said. “There are only six undisputed champions in history. It keeps me happy and very motivated to be one of the six.”

The 31-year-old Alvarez (57-1-2, 39 KOs) hasn’t lost since undefeated Floyd Mayweather beat him by majority decision in their 12-round junior middleweight title fight in September 2013 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Guadalajara native since has won world titles in three more weight classes and become boxing’s best fighter, pound-for-pound, according to most media members and fans.

He fully unified boxing’s four super middleweight titles in less than 11 months by beating British champions Callum Smith (WBA, WBC) and Billy Joe Saunders (WBO) last December 19 and May 8, respectively, and Plant.

The 29-year-old Plant (21-1, 12 KOs), of Ashland City, Tennessee, made three defenses of the IBF super middleweight title before Alvarez defeated him. Plant beat a much lower level of opposition, though, after out-pointing Jose Uzcategui to win it in January 2019 (Mike Lee and mandatory challengers Vincent Feigenbutz and Caleb Truax).

According to CompuBox’s unofficial punch stats, 53 of the 117 punches Alvarez landed through 10-plus rounds were body blows. Overall, he connected with 16 more punches than Plant (117-of-361 to 101-of-441).

Alvarez had a huge advantage, according to CompuBox, in power punches (102-of-251 to 59-of-209). CompuBox credited Plant for landing more jabs against his significantly shorter opponent (42-of-232 to just 15-of-110).

With Plant fading fast, Alvarez landed a left hook and a right uppercut that made Plant bend over and touch the canvas with both gloves about 25 seconds into the 11th round. Plant, who had not been down as a pro, stumbled across the ring after answering Mora’s count from that official knockdown.

A valiant Plant tried his best to continue, but Alvarez attacked him. Alvarez unloaded a left-right-left combination on the depleted Plant and eventually knocked him flat on his back.

Mora immediately stopped the fight after Plant went down again, sprawled out underneath a bottom rope.

“He was making the fight pretty difficult, but Eddy told me to just stick to the game plan in the last two rounds,” Alvarez recalled. “In the end, I got him. That’s the way it had to finish. He was already hurt and I went for the kill.”

Alvarez landed several body shots inside that made Plant retreat with about 25 seconds to go in the 10th round. Plant landed a right-left combination to Alvarez’s body before Alvarez took control of the round.

Plant backed away from Alvarez throughout the ninth round and only occasionally stopped to throw punches. Alvarez landed a hard right hand that made Plant hold him with about 25 seconds to go in the ninth round.

Plant did land a right hand in the ninth round that made Alvarez move away from him and reset his feet.

Alvarez was the aggressor again in the eighth round, in which Plant mostly moved away from him. Plant rarely threw punches in those three minutes, as Alvarez built upon his lead.

Plant caught Alvarez with a counter right hand just after the midway mark of the seventh round. It was one of the few right hands Plant had thrown within a few rounds.

Alvarez backed into the ropes in the final minute of the seventh round, but Plant was cautious about attempting to attack his powerful opponent. An accidental clash of heads caused a brief break soon thereafter, but neither fighter was cut.

Sensing that he was beginning to break down Plant, Alvarez aggressively pressured him at the start of the sixth round. Plant attempted to fend off his stronger opponent, but Alvarez landed a left hook up top, two lefts to the body and a chopping right hand all around the midway mark of the sixth round.

Mora warned Alvarez for a low blow and Plant for pushing Alvarez’s head down 1:15 into the fifth round. Alvarez caught Plant with a left hook as Plant pressed forward later in the fifth round.

The crowd roared after Alvarez landed a left hook on Plant about 1:10 into the fourth round. Plant reset his feet and shook his head to indicate he wasn’t hurt, but Alvarez clearly affected Plant with his power in that round.

With Plant backed against the ropes, Alvarez landed a clean left hook with just over 15 seconds to go in the fourth round.

A jab by Plant caught Alvarez just before the midway mark of the third round. About 15 seconds later, though, Alvarez clipped Plant with a left hook.

With just over 30 seconds on the clock in the third round, Alvarez landed a hard left to Alvarez’s body. Plant landed a solid counter left to Alvarez’s body later in the third round.

Plant connected with a quick left uppercut barely a minute into the second round. Alvarez fired back with a left hook that caught Plant a few seconds later.

Another left hook by Alvarez backed Plant into the ropes later in the second round. Plant landed another left uppercut and followed up with a left to Alvarez’s body with just under 40 seconds to go in the second round.

Plant pumped his jab as soon their bout began and boxed almost exclusively off his back foot during the opening round. Alvarez pursued him for nearly two minutes before he started throwing punches, most of which Plant deflected or avoided entirely, despite loud roars from the crowd.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.