Rowdy News Conference Hits Beverly Hills Ahead Of Boxing Match

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Beverly Hilton Hotel drips elegance. But today, it dripped blood as boxer Canelo Alvarez cut rival Caleb Plant on the cheek during a news conference touting their much-anticipated fight in November.

The fight was expected to have huge viewership. Alvarez's 2013 fight against Floyd Mayweather brought in the most pay-per-view revenue in boxing history at around $2.2 million, according to Yahoo! Sports. ESPN currently ranked Alvarez as the No. 1 boxer regardless of weight class.

But even the most casual boxing fan can appreciate the drama of Tuesday's news conference.

Boxing legend Alvarez shoved Plant while they were facing off Tuesday morning, and the two exchanged punches as reporters and security swarmed the stage. The fight was defused, but Plant ended up with a cut on his cheek.

"Nothing that happened today is going to mess with the outcome of the fight whatsoever. It only gives us more drive, more hunger," said Justin Gamber, a trainer for Plant.

The two tried to fight again about 20 minutes later as Plant was addressing the crowd, but were separated by their trainers and security and only exchanged words this time.

The two will fight on Nov. 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Both Alvarez and Plant hold boxing championships as middleweights from different boxing organizations. Alvarez, who holds middleweight champion titles from three of the four major boxing organizations, will fight to take the fourth from Plant.

"Canelo now is a four-division world champion. [He has] unified titles in three different divisions, the consensus No. 1 fighter in the sport, the biggest star in the sport, the biggest draw in the sport," said Stephen Espinosa, president of sports and event programming for Showtime. "[He's] fighting in what is arguably the most important fight of his career ... to become an undisputed four-belt champion, something only six other men in boxing have ever done."

But Plant loves to be an underdog, he said at the conference.

"There's only one thing better than proving people right, and that's proving people wrong. And I've been doing that my whole life," Plant said.