Mexican boxer Saul Canelo Alvarez won WBO’s Super Welterweight title on Saturday when he knocked out Briton Liam Smith in the ninth round.
The 12-round title bout at AT&T Stadium was more a brawl than a boxing technical combat, in which Canelo landed most of the punches while Smith displayed courage, good stamina and a refusal to stay down.
Alvarez, a -1200 favorite, as expected dictated the pace of most of the fight pushing forward against a Smith that found no answers against an overpowering Alvarez.
The crowd of about 52,000 that made it to the home of the Dallas Cowboys was far from the expected 70,000, but nonetheless they watched a good fight with plenty of action that saw Smith go down three times.
Smith had previously gone down in the seventh and eighth round, but the definitive and final time was in the ninth round when Alvarez managed to connect a hard hook to the body. The Briton could not withstand the pain, his legs wobbled and Smith fell hard to the mat twisting in agony.
The one-sided fight saw Alvarez punishing Smith from the start. Alvarez kept landing punches to Smith’s head and body since the early rounds of the fight, weakening him and cutting him in the corner of the right eye as early as the fifth round.
This defeat marked the first time that Smith was knocked out in a fight and left him with a record of 23-1-1. Alvarez on the other hand improved to 48-1-1 with 34 victories coming by KO.
