September 17th, 2016. Undefeated 28 year old Liam “Beefy” Smith makes the 3rd defense of his WBO Super Welterweight Championship against 26 year old Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Arlington, Texas.
Prefight records; Alvarez 47(31)-1-1, Smith 23(12)-0-1.
On May 7th 2016, Alvarez successfully defended his WBC Middleweight Championship via KO6 over Amir Khan in a win named Knockout of the Year by Ring Magazine.
11 days later, he vacated his WBC title after several failed attempts to secure a fight with Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who was his mandatory at that time. The negotiations fell apart largely due to Alvarez’s insistence of wanting the bout to be at his preferred Catchweight of 155 pounds.
Note: Alvarez eventually fought Golovkin in a trilogy that took place on September 16th 2017, September 15th 2018 & September 17th 2022.
Alvarez then elected to move down to 154 pounds for the 1st time in 6 fights to take on reigning WBO Super Welterweight Champion Liam Smith, who was relatively unknown outside of the United Kingdom.
In his last 5 bouts, Alvarez had fought at 155 pounds and won against Alfredo Angulo, Erislandy Lara, James Kirkland, Miguel Cotto & Amir Khan.
On October 10th 2015, Smith lifted the vacant WBO Super Welterweight Title via TKO7 over Apollo Thompson.
Between December 2015 and June 2016, he successfully defended his title against Predrag Radosevic & Jimmy "Kilrain" Kelly via TKO7 & KO2 respectively.
For his 3rd defense, he was up against the Mexican superstar in the biggest fight of his career.
Going into the fight, Smith had wins over the likes of Jason Welborn & Predrag Radosevic while Alvarez had defeated top oppositions such as Lovemore Ndou, Josesito López, Erislandy Lara, Amir Khan, Alfredo Angulo, James Kirkland, Shane Mosley, Kermit Cintron, Carlos Baldomir, Austin Trout & Miguel Cotto.
Smith put up a surprisingly good performance considering the fact that he was a huge underdog who was given little chances to impress much winning the fight. However, Alvarez’s effective body punching proved too much for the resilient Liverpudlian who hit the canvas 3x en route to suffering the 1st defeat of his career.
In round 2, Alvarez fractured his right thumb and the top of his left eye was cut from a thudding jab.
In round 5, a gash opened up above Smith’s right eye due to a right uppercut.
In round 7, Smith was floored for the 1st time in his career with a 3 punch combo and blood began to flow out of the cut above his right eye. Although visibly hurt, he managed to retaliate by nailing Alvarez with his own combinations in the final minute before the bell sounded.
In round 8, Smith was decked for the 2nd time courtesy of 3 right uppercuts (2 connected) followed by a liver shot.
In round 9, Smith went down for the 3rd time from 2 masterful left hooks; the 1st to the head and the 2nd to the liver.
Referee Luis Pabon went on to stop fight without finishing the count as Smith was evidently unable to continue after mounting numerous comebacks of his own through adversities after adversities in his effort to score the huge upset.
In the post fight interview, Canelo Alvarez credited Liam Smith for his display of grit and bouncebackability:
"Liam Smith was a resilient fighter. He was tough, has a lot of heart. He thinks before he attacks. I could tell in the way he blocked and in the way he approached me. The body shot was what I focused on, making sure I worked his body down, and that is what secured the victory,” said Alvarez.
On the other hand, Liam Smith was rather hard on himself but gave Canelo Alvarez his dues:
"He was too good and skillful today, and I was too slow. I did hit him with some jabs and right hands, but to be more competitive I needed better timing, and my timing was off. I think maybe if I waited a little longer and gotten more experience I would have been able to fight a guy like that better. I am very disappointed,” stated Smith.
