There have been a slew of dazzling moments in the professional boxing career of Canelo Alvarez. The undisputed super middleweight champion is set to put his gold on the line this weekend against undefeated Puerto Rican bruiser Edgar Berlanga. The fight could lead to another iconic moment in the Mexcian superstar’s career. With that in mind, let’s look at the 10 greatest wins in the storied career of the man simply known as Canelo.
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10. Winning World Title For First Time
When Canelo Alvarez stepped inside the ring for his first world title fight against Matthew Hatton back in March 2011, he was nowhere near as seasoned as he is now. It didn’t matter on this night, however, as Canelo put on a clinic for 12 rounds to capture the WBC junior middleweight gold.
9. Handing Liam Smith His First Loss
Today, Liam Smith is regarded as a tough, grizzled veteran, but he was a rising undefeated British star when he shared the ring with Canelo Alvarez on September 17, 2016. Late in the ninth round, Smith tried pressuring Canelo, who had his back against the ropes.
As it turned out, the Mexican star was simply biding his time and landed a perfect body shot that sent Smith to the canvas for the third and final time.
8. Escaping Erislandy Lara
Before facing Erislandy Lara, Alvarez was just one fight removed from suffering the first loss of his career against Floyd Mayweather. After stopping Alfredo Angulo via 10th-round TKO, Alvarez went straight into the fire with the crafty and elusive Lara.
This was a tough fight for the Mexican star, as Lara had superb conditioning and was hard to hit. Still, he reached his opponent enough to seal a split decision win.
7. Defeating Shane Mosley
This would be higher on the list, but given that Shane Mosley was already well past his prime when he fought Alvarez back in 2012, this win takes the number seven spot. It was still a significant victory for the Mexican star, as Mosley had a few tricks up his sleeve to serve as a learning experience. Alvarez won via unanimous decision over a tough “Sugar” Shane, who took plenty of punishment and kept on fighting.
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6. Taking IBF Gold from Daniel Jacobs
In Daniel Jacobs’ final major title fight, he put forth a showing that few realized would be a last-ditch effort to keep an impressive career alive. It was the final great performance of his pro boxing run, but it still wasn’t enough to get past Canelo when they fought back in 2019. Alvarez earned the unanimous decision to take home the IBF middleweight title. Jacobs went 2-2 after this fight before announcing his retirement.
5. Breaking Billy Joe Saunders’ Face
In late 2020, Canelo Alvarez began his mission to become the undisputed super middleweight champion by defeating Callum Smith via unanimous decision. While that bout could’ve been on this list, his methodical destruction of Billy Joe Saunders was even better.
Saunders found the target a few times early on, but no one smells blood in the water quite like Alvarez. The Mexican star knew he had Saunders badly hurt after connecting with a clean uppercut, and he was right as his opponent suffered a broken orbital bone. Alvarez captured the WBO gold via eighth-round stoppage.
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4. Legacy Win Over Miguel Cotto
After a young Canelo Alvarez was outclassed by Floyd Mayweather, it was gut check time for the Mexican star. Would he learn from the defeat or was his time in the spotlight fading? He proved many doubters wrong when he shared the ring with Puerto Rican legend Miguel Cotto.
This was easily the biggest fight Alvarez had following the Mayweather defeat up to that point, and he delivered by scoring a unanimous decision victory. Alvarez also became a world champion again, capturing the WBC middleweight gold.
3. Winning Undisputed Super Middleweight Title
After defeating Callum Smith and Billy Joe Saunders, Alvarez found himself just one win away from being the unified super middleweight champion of boxing. On November 6, 2021, he went one-on-one with Caleb Plant in an effort to take the IBF hardware and solidify his place as the undisputed king of the 168-pound division.
Mission accomplished, as Alvarez handed Plant his first knockdown and loss via 11th-round TKO.
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2. Knocking Out Sergey Kovalev to Win Light Heavyweight Gold
On November 2, 2019, Canelo Alvarez had quite the task in front of him. He was looking to dethrone Sergey Kovalev, who held the WBO light heavyweight championship. Despite moving up in weight, Kovalev failed to land anything that would give Alvarez pause. In the 11th round, he sent Kovalev crashing down to the canvas and onto the ropes courtesy of a left and right hand.
With the win, Alvarez laid claim to the 175-pound WBO title.
1. Leaving No Doubt Against Gennady Golovkin
There was some controversy surrounding the second matchup between Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. While he walked out of that bout with a majority decision win, many boxing experts and fans felt Golovkin should’ve had his hand raised. Well, in their trilogy fight, Alvarez left no doubt who the better boxer was on that night.
He simply looked to be the fresher fighter and was often a step ahead of his opponent. This one was a much easier fight to score, with Canelo Alvarez earning the unanimous decision win and putting his rivalry with “GGG” to bed.