Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez will want to use his power against Terence Crawford to produce a knockout even half as good as one of his iconic finishes.
The boxers will square off on 13 September in a fight where Canelo will put his undisputed super middleweight titles on the line against another pound-for-pound star in Crawford.
While it has been four years since the Mexican has produced a knockout, he will be hoping to use his natural size, given ‘Bud’ is jumping up two weight classes, to his advantage.
Former opponents of the 35-year-old have told the American to be aware of the power, with one rival providing him with a one-word warning.
In a career spanning 67 fights and five divisions, the modern great has recorded 39 knockouts.
Here, we rank his ten best knockouts.
10. Alfredo Angulo
His first fight after a majority decision defeat to Floyd Mayweather was a successful tenth-round stoppage of fellow countryman Alfredo Angulo in 2016.
Alvarez beat down Angulo over the course of the fight, and it ended when he landed a pinpoint left uppercut through the guard to stun his opponent, compelling referee Tony Weeks to put an end to the fight.
9. Josesito Lopez
A comprehensive display in 2012 saw the Mexican bulldoze Josesito Lopez in five rounds to successfully defend his WBC super welterweight title for a fifth time.
Lopez was overmatched in this contest, with body shot knockdowns in the second and third rounds folding the challenger.
The fourth round saw a right hand connect once again to floor him, but he would make it into the next round, where he would be stopped after two heavy right hands on the side of his head.
8. Alfonso Gomez
It was always going to be a tough ask for Alfonso Gomez to beat the reigning 154 lb champion in their bout, but his nightmare first round was just a sign of things to come.
After trading with simultaneous left hands, Gomez went down in the opener, and Canelo, following a dominant four rounds, unloaded an unanswered barrage of hard punches to make the referee stop the fight.
7. Carlos Baldomir
Canelo’s spite when he has an opponent hurt has always been an admirable trait, and when he started exchanging with the older boxer, Carlos Baldomir, in the sixth round, he put him face-first on the canvas.
Their 2010 clash ended in the final seconds of the round when the two traded blows. Alvarez, who got the better of the exchanges, unloaded a short left hook that sent Baldomir flat on the floor.
6. Rocky Fielding
Canelo has had some great successes over British opponents, and when champion Rocky Fielding defended his belt against the star in 2018, it was no different.
The Mexican knocked down Fielding three times in the first three rounds before unloading a nasty body shot to end the fight early to kick off his quest for super middleweight supremacy.
5. Caleb Plant
When he became the undisputed super middleweight champion in 2021, Canelo was able to produce an 11th-round finish on the undefeated IBF champion Caleb Plant.
While Plant had his successes, he was not able to match the gas tank of Alvarez, who sensed a finish in the penultimate round after his left hand floored him for the first time in the fight.
The finish came when he chased ‘Sweet Hands’ into the ropes and punished him with right hands until Plant went down on his back from exhaustion.
4. Liam Smith
Fielding was not the only Scouser whom the Mexican finished brutally to the body, as he also knocked out Liam Smith for the WBO super welterweight title in a similar fashion.
While sustaining some damage to the eye and right thumb, Canelo was able to power through, dropping his opponent with left hands to the body in the seventh and eighth rounds.
But it was one final left hand to the liver in the ninth that made Smith collapse in pain on the floor and left him struggling so badly that he was unable to get back up.
3. Sergey Kovalev
An especially vicious finish capped off a successful campaign to win a championship in his fifth weight division when he went toe-to-toe with experienced light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev in 2019.
This was one of the more even fights in which the pound-for-pound star scored a knockout, but even with Kovalev firing back with his long jab, Canelo found a way to chop him down in the 11th.
Following a tough contest, the ‘Krusher’ was caught with a right hand to stagger him when Saul Alvarez unloaded a left hand to end the combination that almost sent the Russian through the ropes.
If there is one way to win a world title in the weight class above, this is it.
2. James Kirkland
This 2015 finish against the 33-fight veteran James Kirkland has made it onto Canelo’s career highlight reel because of how devastating it looked.
A right hand in the first round produced a delayed and stunned reaction from Kirkland to send him to the canvas.
It would not get any better for the Texan who, after recovering from a short right uppercut, was pressured to the ropes where Alvarez set up a sickening right hand to knock his opponent out cold.
The finish was crowned the 2015 Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year, but it would be his KO the following year that tops the rest.
1. Amir Khan
Arguably, his most famous knockout of all was produced from absolutely nowhere when he defended his WBC middleweight title against Amir Khan in 2016.
The British legend had used his incredible hand speed to unsettle his rival and make the fight much closer than anticipated.
While he was caught with some heavy shots, only a few seemed to trouble him, but not enough to send him down.
That was until Canelo unleashed a vicious overhand right, which flattened Khan to put him out cold – a visual which still lives long in the memory of boxing fans to this day.
It was crowned the 2016 Ring Magazine Knockout of the Year because of its brutality and is still considered Alvarez’s best finish to date.