Manny Pacquiao hailed Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez as the "pound-for-pound king" after the Mexican beat Caleb Plant to become the first undisputed world super middleweight champion.
Canelo knocked out previously unbeaten IBF champion Plant in the 11th round of their blockbuster showdown in Las Vegas on Saturday to cement his place in the record books.
The 31-year-old added Plant's belt to the WBA Super, WBC an WBO titles he already held, a clean sweep that has never before been achieved by a Mexican boxer.
He is just the sixth fighter since the WBO began sanctioning world title bouts in 1988 to hold all four of the belts.
Pacquiao won world titles across eight weight classes during his career and was among those to salute Canelo, who is now 57-1-2 on the back of a largely one-sided contest.
"Congratulations to the pound-for-pound king, Canelo, on making boxing history as the first undisputed super middleweight champion ever," Pacquiao posted on Twitter.
"Plant put up a great fight but Canelo is just too good. Boxing is in great hands."
Canelo went on the offensive from the off at MGM Grand and wore down Plant before brutally stopping his opponent with one minute and five seconds of the 11th round remaining.
It was Canelo's third stoppage win of 2021 as he further cemented his status as a boxing great.
WBC Interim world lightweight champion Joseph Diaz said: "What a fight, Canelo always closes! Respect to both fighters.
"Plant put on a great fight. We're witnessing true greatness what Canelo is doing in his career."
Plant more than held his own in the early rounds and was embraced in the ring by Canelo at the end of the fight.
That was in stark contrast to two months ago when the pair were involved in a physical altercation during a media conference to announce the fight.
Canelo revealed at the time the scuffle was down to a comment made by Plant regarding his mother, but he is nevertheless full of respect for his opponent.
"We don't have to take anything away from Caleb Plant. He's a great fighter and he made a great effort tonight," he said at his post-fight news conference.
"But in the end we came out with the win. That's all that matters really. So even though we had that frustration in the first five rounds the second half of the fight was ideal.
"He told me afterwards that he wanted to keep fighting and he also wanted to apologise to me and he didn't mean what he said about my mum. He was truly sorry about that.
"I told him: 'Look, it's OK. It's water under the bridge.' I told him he was a great man and also that some day I hope he will have a great family as well.
"I can only wish the best for him. In the fight we have to hurt each other but, in the end, we're all human and we want the best for each other."
Fury accuses 'coward' Usyk of 'running' from unification fight
Tyson Fury has accused Oleksandr Usyk of being a "coward" and "running" away after a proposed heavyweight unification title fight collapsed.
WBC champion Fury and WBA, WBO and IBF world champion Usyk were due to step into the ring at Wembley on April 29.
A deal could not be agreed, though, with both parties unable to come to an agreement over terms for a purse split in the rematch clause.
Usyk's promoter Alex Krassyuk pointed the finger at Fury for "putting so many obstacles in front of making the deal."
Mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois is instead seemingly next in line for Usyk, and Fury claims that is bout the Ukrainian wanted rather than facing him.
He said in a social media post on Thursday: "[You] tried all week to get out of it, begging for a rematch like a little girl. You got your rematch, then didn't even wanna fight at that.
"Always know that you was never man enough to tangle with the 'Gypsy King' ever in your life. You little 14-stone coward, and your full team know it as well, and all the lawyers have got the full information.
"Keep running. Fight [Daniel] Dubois at the Copper Box now, and always know that you or anybody else like you would never tangle with the Gypsy King!"
Joshua will not 'sit around and wait' for Fury following collapsed Usyk fight
Anthony Joshua will not "sit around and wait" to enter discussions with Tyson Fury after the latter's proposed bout with Oleksandr Usyk fell through.
Usyk's camp confirmed on Wednesday that talks with Fury over a heavyweight unification bout at Wembley on April 29 had collapsed.
Fury's promoter Eddie Hearn later revealed he is hoping to revive negotiations with Joshua over an all-British showdown later this year.
But having failed to agree terms on a fight twice before, most recently at the end of last year, Joshua is not interested in more drawn-out discussions.
"I was supposed to fight him before I fought Usyk, the first time, and he pulled out due to his legal case, the arbitration, with [Deontay] Wilder," Joshua said.
"Then we had the one for this December [when talks also broke down]. Will the fight with me and him get made? I don't know.
"Look at all the s*** they are going through now with this Usyk stuff. It's just crazy. I don't publicise things, so it's actually good that people are starting to see what goes on.
"It's good that people can actually see the s*** that people have got to put up with to make a fight. But Me and Usyk got two successful fights done."
Joshua added: "I cannot say I am just going to sit around and wait for this geezer [Fury]. There are other great fights out there I can have.
"Without Fury on my record I will not wake up tomorrow and regret my whole boxing career. If he is on it, I am on it, if he is not, he is not. Whatever."
Joshua is scheduled to meet Jermaine Franklin in London on April 1 as he looks to respond to back-to-back losses to Usyk.
Usyk's promoter questions Fury's willingness to fight after heavyweight bout falls through
Oleksandr Usyk's team doubt Tyson Fury ever wanted to fight the Ukrainian after talks over a heavyweight title clash broke down.
Usyk's promoter Alexander Krassyuk raised the question after the two camps were unable to compromise on the financial details of the fight, such as any potential rematch purse split.
The pair were due to meet on April 29 at Wembley Stadium, having previously agreed to a 70-30 purse split in favour of Fury.
Usyk's manager, Egis Klimas, confirmed his client had pulled out after seemingly growing frustrated at Fury's continued demands.
In an interview with Sky Sports, promoter Krassyuk explained: "The Usyk side pulled out of further negotiations as the Fury side never had enough [and wanted] to pull everything and all rights to their side, I don't want to go into details as all negotiations were confidential, but I will tell you one thing, when a fighter doesn't want to fight he overprices himself knowing that the fight won't happen.
"They most likely forgot that Usyk is holding the majority of belts in the heavyweight division and Tyson just has one."
Fury only holds the WBC heavyweight title, after his trilogy victory over Deontay Wilder, whereas Usyk holds the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts after twice defeating Anthony Joshua.
Krassyuk added: "They claimed Tyson is a face and must have all the rights, but look at statistics on pay-per-view with Tyson vs Chisora and Usyk vs Chisora and then tell me who is who?"
Last year Fury's fight with Derek Chisora reportedly reached 500,000 pay-per-view sales, under half those supposedly made for when Usyk fought the same opponent in 2020.
A deadline of April 1 for the fight to be agreed had been set by WBA president Gilberto Mendoza, and this latest setback looks likely to put pay to any chance of the event being set before that date.
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