Caleb Plant suffered horrific family tragedies with losses of mother and 19-month-old daughter, but fought on to become world champion and is now set for undisputed fight with Canelo Alvarez

Caleb Plant is a 21-0 undefeated world champion, and yet in reality he's lost more than most fighters could ever comprehend.

From the outside, it would appear the rich, talented, well-spoken American who is now set to fight Canelo Alvarez has everything going for him.

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On the inside, though, he carries a deep grief having endured the worst fate that can possibly befall any parent.

Plant grew up in a small town called Ashland City, Tennessee and started boxing at the age of nine.

Through succeeding in his amateur career, he eventually escaped the clutches of poverty, criminality and substance abuse which surrounded him in his local community.

Caleb's mother, Beth Plant, had a substance dependency problem and his family endured poverty like many in the town.

As a teen, Plant even found himself dealing drugs for his mother. Boxing was his way out.

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Father Richie Plant constructed a shoddy gym in the hope of providing his son with the conditions to one day achieve a better life.

The boxing ring was marked out by tape on the ground and it was here where Caleb, now 28, first honed his skills.

As he came towards the end of his impressive amateur career - in which he had been a reserve for the USA's 2012 Olympic team - Plant fathered a baby girl, Alia.

However, the 20-year-old and his 19-year-old partner at the time, Carman Jean Briscoe-Lee, were soon devastated by the news that she was fighting for her life.

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Plant recalled in an interview with : "Alia was born with an unknown medical condition.

"I had her blood sent off to do over 50,000 tests at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital which is probably the most prestigious children's hospital in the world. Everything came back negative.

"She would have at least 150 seizures per day. There was not one day she would have under 150 seizures.

"There were probably a handful of times where I got to hold her and look at her and make eye contact where I felt like, 'Wow, I think she sees me, I think she's actually looking at me.'

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"Maybe five times in 19 months. And the rest you could tell was like a blur, it was just foggy. She didn't know where she was or who I was it seemed like.

"She had brain damage, she had zero motor skills, she couldn't sit up, she couldn't hold her head up, she couldn't make a fist.

"She would randomly kick her leg here or there, but she couldn't eat. She ate through a tube in her stomach.

"I gave her eight medicines twice a day, I had to cath her, I had to give her shots every day in her leg.

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"She had eight doctors appointments per week downtown. There would be months on end that I lived and stayed at the hospital, even in my training camps.

"I would wake up, go to the gym and train, come back and spend time with her, go to strength and conditioning, come back and rest with her.

"I'd go home every couple days to get more clothes, then I'd come back. I'd go run downtown by Vanderbilt, I'd take ice baths at Vanderbilt in the bathroom."

This sequence continued for Plant as he ended his amateur career and turned professional with Al Haymon's PBC.

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Carman had to leave her jobs to care for Alia 24/7 so Caleb's income was vital.

He started on his professional journey in May 2014, just after Alia's first birthday.

Having built his record to 5-0, Plant was off to a good start and scheduled to have his sixth fight at the end of January 2015.

Tragically though, Alia could not hang on any longer.

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"I had a fight in Philadelphia and she was on life support again," Plant explained, "I was struggling with the decision because she's been here before, she's always made it out.

"It was getting very scary with her on life support, she was barely able to stay afloat.

"When I woke up [the next day] things were actually getting worse, so they said, 'Mr Plant we don't think you should leave because, we know you've told you this a handful of times, but we're telling you this time your daughter's gonna pass away.'

"They told me that so I cancelled the fight.

"She was slowly going down and down and down and down and down.

"I went to her and I said, 'This has been a long 19 months and I know you have to be tired. If you're tired of this and you're done, you don't wanna do this anymore, then your daddy supports you and I'm gonna be right here.'

"Every time before it was, 'No, this is not gonna happen,' but I had that conversation with her and she just started going down.

"I got to sit there with her and she took her last breath. January 29 at 10:55."

Alia Plant passed away in her mother's arms aged just 19 months.

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Remarkably, Plant was back in the ring just five weeks later, vowing to fight on and fulfil the world title promise he had made to his daughter before she died.

It took another four years, but in January 2019, his shot at glory finally arrived.

Rugged Venezuelan Jose Uzcategui was the IBF super-middleweight champion, fresh off an impressive victory over Andre Dirrell.

Plant was an underdog going into the bout, but stunned oddsmakers by flooring Uzcategui in the second round.

He repeated this feat in round four and, despite being staggered himself in the ninth, battled through to the final bell.

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When the scorecards were read out, Plant was declared the winner by unanimous decision and the new super-middleweight champion of the world.

He dropped to his knees and sobbed profusely, letting out what appeared several years of suppressed emotion.

"I've worked my whole entire life for this, 17 years straight," Plant said as he tried and failed to compose himself in his post-fight interview.

"I buried my daughter in the process of trying to get this belt.

"I promised her that I'd become a world champion and that I'd bring her this title, and that's exactly what I'm gonna go back to Tennessee and do."

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Days later, he posted a picture to Instagram of him laying his world title belt on Alia's grave.

Although the grief will of course never leave the bereaved father, this appeared to be a moment of peace for him, having fulfilled his vow.

Sadly this peace did not last long.

Little over a month later, in March 2015, his mother Beth was in an ambulance being transported to Emergency Medical Services for mental health concerns.

While in the vehicle, she became combative towards medical staff and withdrew a knife from her backpack.

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They pulled over and called the police.

When a deputy arrived on the scene, she brandished the knife at him and moved in his direction.

According to the police report, "The deputy screamed many times for her to stop and drop it, she kept coming."

The deputy fired his gun at Beth Plant who subsequently died at Nashville hospital. She was 51.

Plant was heartbroken once more, but used boxing as his escapism and again did not take long before returning to the ring.

He successfully defended his belt on the Manny Pacquiao vs Keith Thurman undercard just four months later.

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Now he is back for the biggest fight of his career - an undisputed title showdown with Mexican pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez on Saturday night.

Plant has already fulfilled his promise to Alia by becoming world champion, and made his mother Beth proud, but he continues to fight on in search of ultimate glory... which may not be too far away.