The young man from Comonfort ended 2019 with two prestigious silver medals added to his collection in the under-58 kilograms flyweight category – one from the World Championships in Manchester and another from the Pan American Games in Lima.

But he was unable to carry that wave of success forwards at the Olympic qualifiers held in March this year in Heredia, where he was beaten 32-26 in the semi-final by Colombia's Jefferson Fernandez Ochoa, who claimed one of the two flyweight spots for Tokyo along with Lucas Guzman of Argentina.

Plaza's emergence as a world class force in the sport has come as no surprise given his bronze-medal winning performance in the under-45kg class at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Sharm El Sheikh. 

He was beaten in the semi-final by Russia's Boris Krasnov, who went on to take the gold and five years later won the title at the Summer Universiade.

Plaza's senior career took a dramatic upturn in 2018 when he won the Pan American Championships title in Spokane, Washington – having beaten Ochoa 19-12 in his opening bout.

Having opened 2019 with consecutive gold medals in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexican Open events, Plaza had an inspired run in the World Championships, going all the way to the final before losing 25-9 to South Korea's Jun Jang.

He reached another major international final soon afterwards at the Pan American Games in Lima, losing 19-17 in the final to Guzman.

Another Mexican Open title in Jalisco this year set him up for the Olympic qualifiers, but that experience was to end in frustration. 

Plaza has youth, and talent, on his side as he now seeks to re-establish himself at the highest level in his category.