Ahead of the much-anticipated fight between Mexican Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and American Caleb Plant to become world super middleweight champion, we have decided to take a look back at the history of Mexico’s boxing hero defeating extremely talented opponents in a damaging, bruising way.
Of course, we can't look back at Canelo's entire boxing career, we'd be here until his next fight, but we can look at some bruising affairs from over the years, with the help of talkSPORT.
The first victim of this brutality was James Kirkland back in 2015 in the title bout to be crowned super welterweight champion.
Kirkland was dropped within the first round, leaving the American with a bloodied nose, but he did manage to survive another two rounds of assault before Canelo dealt a very clever right hand to drop him to the canvas for a masterful and mature knockout victory.
Below you can see him before and after the fight...
Next victim to the deadly punches was Bolton’s very own Amir Khan in fight where the Brit stepped up two weight classes. It was a fight which proved to define his career.
Having not managed to convince the big guns of Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao for a battle, a risk was taken against Canelo. After five rounds it looked like the risk was paying off as the pace of Khan seemed to confuse the young Mexican. That was until the sixth round, where Canelo dealt one of the hardest blows in boxing history.
With his formidable right hand, he managed to break Khan’s jaw. The force was so severe, medics were attending to Khan for several minutes after the fight, with Alvarez respectfully not celebrating after dealing the blow.
His before and after is more like a before and during, but you get the point nonetheless...
Callum Smith did well to reach 12 rounds with the Mexican, but even then he sustained damage during the contest in 2020.
The Liverpudlian received a nasty bicep injury during the fight, which he insisted Canelo was targeting: “In the 12th round, he looked at the swelling and laughed and asked, ‘Is it sore?’ It’s experience on his behalf. It completely tools away probably my best shot.”
This showed Canelo’s killer instinct in devastating fashion.
Just look at that bicep after the fight... ouch!
Alvarez’s most recent deadly blow came during his contest with Billy Joe Saunders in May early this year.
With Saunders having been out of the ring for a sustained time, it was easy pickings for the Mexican, who eventually dealt another terrifying blow.
This time it was in the eighth round, where a ferocious uppercut from the Mexican managed to shatter the Brit’s eye in three places, leaving him to have emergency surgery on his left cheek bone and eye socket.
The damage sustained was so severe that Saunders is considering retirement at the tender age of 31.
Before we conclude, though, how could we forget what the Mexican did to Gennady Golovkin.
The babyfaced assassin, who looks clean cut and childlike before all of his fights, was left looking bruised, battered and shattered after sharing the ring with Canelo.
Makes you wonder why he agreed to do it more than once...
These are just a few examples of the power that Canelo Alvarez possesses.
It has been suggested Plant might not come out of the fight in one piece, and going by previous fights, that looks like quite a safe bet.
I guess we will find out soon enough.