As Saturday’s historic 168-pound battle nears, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Caleb Plant understand what is at stake and what this fight means for the super middleweight division. Not only are they competing for supremacy of this era and all four major world titles, a win permanently etches their name in the record books. Just six of the 61 super middleweight world champions (plus 9 other WBA regular titlists), since the inception of the weight class, have held unified titles. None of them have had possession of all four major sanctioning body belts.   “Only five male fighters in the history of boxing have accomplished becoming undisputed champion [in the four-belt era, and that was in other weight classes]. I want to become the sixth. That’s the only thing on my mind,” said Canelo. “The goal is to be an all-time great. I’m so proud of the journey I’ve taken to achieve that. I’m not going to stop until I’ve tried my best to reach that goal.” 

 

“Make sure you tune-in Saturday night,” said Plant. “You’re going to see the first undisputed super middleweight champion ever in this sport. This is history and you’re looking at him. His name is Caleb Plant. I’m someone who likes to focus on what’s in front of me. Until recently, Canelo wasn’t in my weight division, so I didn’t think much about fighting him. Once he came in the division, I knew that it would be a huge mega fight and here we are.” 

 

Here we are, indeed, nearly 38 years into the division’s existence. After a few attempts by local state commissions and promoters to help drum up event ticket sales by fabricating championships for what was sometimes referred to as “junior light heavyweight”, the super middleweight division was solidified in the 1980s when the existing major sanctioning organizations decided to recognize the new weight class.

 

Ten months after the creation of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the organization crowned the first ever super middleweight world champion recognized by a major sanctioning body. Scotland’s Murray Sutherland, a two-time light heavyweight world title challenger, defeated Philadelphia’s Ernie Singletary via 15-round unanimous decision, on March 28, 1984, in Atlantic City, NJ. Sutherland was quickly dethroned four months later by South Korea’s Chong Pal Park, on July 22, 1984, via 11th-round knockout. Park held on to the IBF title for three years, making eight title defenses.  

 

When the World Boxing Association (WBA) decided to recognize the super middleweight division, Park challenged Mexican Jesus Gallardo in the inaugural contest, on December 6, 1987. After Park knocked out Gallardo in two rounds to become WBA champion, the IBF subsequently stripped him of their title. 

 

On November 4, 1988, the newly created World Boxing Organization (WBO) crowned its first world champion when Thomas Hearns defeated James Kinchen via 12-round majority decision for the vacant title. The win allowed Hearns to make history, becoming boxing’s first five-weight division world champion.  

 

Hearns’ rival, Sugar Ray Leonard, matched that feat just three days later, when he knocked out World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight champion Donald Lalonde in the ninth round on November 7, 1988. Because the WBC sanctioned the Lalonde-Leonard contest for both their light heavyweight and vacant inaugural super middleweight championships, Leonard also became the first man to win world titles in two weight classes on the same night. 

 

The next attempt to unify world titles at super middleweight failed when the epic Leonard-Hearns rematch, on June 12, 1989, ended in a controversial draw. Most felt that Hearns deserved the revenge victory, which Leonard eventually conceded. Three months later, Leonard defended his WBC super middleweight belt in a lackluster rubbermatch against Roberto Duran, via wide unanimous 12-round decision, on December 7, 1989.  

 

Park lost the WBA belt to Fulgencio Obelmejias on May 23, 1988, with the title changing hands three more times before former middleweight champion Michael Nunn moved up to dethrone Victor Cordoba. Nunn defended the WBA crown four times over a 17-month period only to be upset by unheralded-but-scrappy Philadelphian Steve Little, on February 26, 1994.  

 

After a successful middleweight title reign, James Toney moved up eight pounds to stop Iran Barkley in nine rounds for the IBF 168-pound belt on February 13, 1993. Twenty-one months and three defenses later, Toney was opposite the ring from another undefeated former middleweight champion moving up in weight, Roy Jones Jr., on November 18, 1994. 

 

Jones was in control throughout, earning a unanimous decision victory to usher in a super middleweight reign of near perfection. Jones’ unique style and dazzling combination of speed, power and athleticism made him appear invincible. He made six title defenses over the next two years, all by knockout. With his utter dominance of the competition, Jones supplanted Pernell Whitaker as boxing’s pound-for-pound king.  

 

Frankie Liles, a former amateur victim of Jones in the 1988 Olympic Trials, defeated Little on August 12, 1994, for the WBA title, eventually making five title defenses over a five-year period. 

 

Meanwhile, a vibrant super middleweight scene was brewing in the United Kingdom.  Following a brief seven-month reign as WBO middleweight champion, England’s Chris Eubank succeeded Hearns as the WBO’s super middleweight titlist when he defeated Michael Watson in a rematch for the vacant belt, on September 21, 1991. Stopped in the 12th round, Watson was left partially paralyzed resulting from injuries suffered in this bout. Eubank would hold the title for three-and-a-half years, making 14 title defenses. 

 

Nigel Benn spent six months as a WBO middleweight titlist before Eubank stopped him in their first encounter on November 18, 1990. This prompted his move up to 168 pounds, where he captured the WBC super middleweight belt from Italian Mauro Galvan, who had picked up the vacant title in the aftermath of Leonard’s retirement. Benn’s reign lasted three-and-a-half years and nine title defenses.  

 

A highly anticipated rematch between Benn and Eubank, now both super middleweight titlists, occurred on October 9, 1993. Meant to unify the WBC and WBO titles, their second outing ended in a draw. Benn would later meet former middleweight champion Gerald McClellan in a savage and ultimately tragic war on February 25, 1995. McClellan was knocked out in the 10th round, lapsed into a coma and woke up a changed man. From the brain damage he suffered, McClellan was left blind, eighty-percent deaf, having short-term memory loss, and in need of a wheelchair.  

 

Three weeks later, Eubank lost his belt to Ireland’s Steve Collins. The Irishman would go on to defeat Eubank in a rematch and twice knock out Benn, a former champion by then, in three of his seven title defenses, before retiring in July of 1997.  

 

There was an abundance of talent at the top of the division during this time, yet only one failed unification attempt. Disputes between networks, promoters, and, of course, Jones’ reluctance to travel abroad, all contributed to this. At the peak of his powers, Jones likely would have beaten all of the other titleholders. Though, as the star of the weight class, he didn’t need to take those risks.  

 

On March 3, 1996, Benn would lose his WBC belt in a split decision upset to South African Thulani Malinga. This led to a string of champions unable to hold on to the belt for long, as the title changed hands 12 times between 10 men over the next 10 years. This list included Malinga, who became a two-time champion, and Germany’s Markus Beyer, a three-time WBC titlist.   

 

When Collins retired as champion in 1997, a 25-year-old Welshman named Joe Calzaghe claimed the vacant WBO belt with a defeat of Eubank three months later. With a symbolic passing of the torch, the victory began a reign that lasted a decade and 21 consecutive title defenses.  

 

After Jones Jr. vacated the IBF title to conquer light heavyweight, a brief stint by Charles Brewer paved the way for another long, and perhaps agoraphobic, championship reign by Germany’s Sven Ottke, which began on October 24, 1998. Ottke remained unbeaten until his retirement in 2004, also defending his crown 21 times, all at home in Germany. Near the end of his career, on March 15, 2003, Ottke became the first unified super middleweight champion. He unified the IBF and WBA belts with a close, split decision win against champion, and Liles conqueror, Byron Mitchell, who also became the first fighter to drop Calzaghe in a losing effort three months later. Ottke retired with a record of 34-0. 

 

It was during Ottke’s reign when the WBA splintered their title to create a super and regular version of the belt. When Ottke unified with Mitchell, he was elevated to super champion, with Australia’s Anthony Mundine winning the regular version in September 2003.  

 

Calzaghe, who would later be widely regarded as the best super middleweight in history, did not begin to receive proper recognition worldwide until he met US Olympian and IBF titlist Jeff Lacy, on March 4, 2006. Lacy had picked up the IBF belt left vacated by Ottke. Four defenses into his championship, the squat 20-0 American powerhouse was heavily hyped. Despite being a 40-0 world champion, 17 title defenses into his reign, Calzaghe was considered a big underdog by many experts. Proving the pundits wrong, Calzaghe thoroughly outclassed Lacy for 12 one-sided rounds, dropping him in the final frame to earn a wide unanimous decision and unify the two belts.  

 

His hold on the IBF title didn’t last long, as he chose not to face little-regarded IBF mandatory Robert Stieglitz, in favor of defending his WBO title in a lucrative match against Peter Manfredo Jr., of The Contender fame. However, in his next bout, Calzaghe took on Denmark’s 39-0 Mikkel Kessler in a historically significant unification battle, on November 3, 2007. 

 

After Ottke retired and there was no longer a WBA super champion, Kessler seized the belt from Manny Siaca in November 2004, then added the WBC strap around his waist with a third-round knockout of Beyer in October 2006. With Kessler now the unified WBC/WBA champion, he too was given super status by the WBA, allowing Mundine to regain the vacant regular belt with a win against Aussie rival Sam Soliman. 

 

The stage was set for an epic showdown and first-ever three-belt unifier at super middleweight between long-reigning Calzaghe and Danish rising talent Kessler. In front of a crowd of 50,000 in Cardiff, Wales, Calzaghe halted Kessler’s early success to win a unanimous decision. After this bout, his 21st title defense, Calzaghe chased high profile bouts at light heavyweight, vacating his 168-pound belts. Two wins against Bernard Hopkins and Jones Jr. later, both in the United States, Calzaghe retired undefeated with a 46-0 record in 2008. 

 

With Calzaghe’s exit now leaving a void, there was a need to crown a new king at 168 pounds. The Showtime network devised such a tournament, dubbed the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which ultimately included eight top fighters and two world title belts. The tournament lasted for a period of two years over 11 memorable bouts…