Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s remarkable body transformation to dominate four different weight classes as he attempts to unify super-middleweight division against Caleb Plant

Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is arguably the pound-for-pound king in boxing right now, but on Saturday against Caleb Plant, he is aiming to become an undisputed champion for the first time in his career.

The Mexican is aiming for super-middleweight supremacy and all he needs to do it is take the unbeaten Plant’s IBF title and the set is complete - easier said than done.

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But, Canelo is already decorated to legendary levels. The 31-year-old is a four-weight world champion all the way from light-middleweight to light-heavyweight and he even started his career as a welterweight.

Canelo has been known for his fearsome power as his career has gone along. With 38 knockouts in his 56 victories, he has legitimate power in those arms.

Welterweight - 147lbs

A lot of that has come with the changes Canelo has made to his body. It’s well-documented he started his professional career in Mexico in 2005 when he was just 15.

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At that age, he was a scrawny welterweight (147lbs), but he was still knocking guys out. Apart from a draw in his fifth outing, Canelo won 42 bouts before losing to Floyd Mayweather eight years later.

Canelo didn’t fight at light middleweight (154lbs) until 2010, five years into his career. He knocked out Luciano Leonel Cuello for the WBC’s silver title at that weight and at the start of 2011, he defeated Britain’s Matthew Hatton for the WBC’s full belt

Light middleweight - 154lbs

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After the aforementioned loss to Mayweather in 2013, Canelo began his assault on the middleweight division (160lbs) which saw him take the WBC title from Miguel Cotto.

He'd then go on to defeat two more Brits in Amir Khan and Liam Smith through 2016. As of today, he has disposed of seven British fighters.

Middleweight - 160lbs

The next two years saw Canelo continue at middleweight with a huge domestic showdown with Julio César Chávez Jr followed up by a pair of lucrative bouts with Gennady Golovkin - the first being a 2017 draw and the 2018 rematch being won via unanimous decision.

Exactly three months after getting what Canelo believed to be a decisive win over Golovkin, he went after Rocky Fielding’s WBA super middleweight title (168lbs).

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Of course, the Mexican star got what he was after with a third round knockout.

Then, he decided to defend the middleweight titles he was yet to give up against Daniel Jacobs, once again showing just how versatile and durable his body is.

Light heavyweight - 175lbs

Then came his next rise in weight. Canelo took on the challenge of dethroning perhaps the greatest light-heavyweight of his era, WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in November 2019.

In just six months, Canelo jumped up two weight classes from 160lbs to 175lbs. The two stone of pure muscle he had put on since the start of his career was blindingly evident and despite doubts he could get the job done against a natural light-heavyweight, he duly knocked Kovalev out.

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There’s a difference between making weight and being the weight, too. Tyson Fury was very vocal about losing the required weight to face Deontay Wilder the first time having detrimental effects, but actually making himself solid at that weight for their second and third meetings had a huge difference.

Canelo jumped up to light-heavyweight in just six months. In the two years since, Canelo has operated at super-middleweight, a division where he wants to finally own the full set before setting his sights anywhere else.

Super-middleweight - 168lbs

For the first time in years, Canelo is taking an extended time at one weight.

Victories over Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders helped Alvarez claim more titles at this weight and he also found time to defeat Avni Yıldırım in the space of six months, incredibly.

Now, Canelo is looking to assert his place in history by unifying the division against Plant.

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