Canelo Alvarez stops Billy Saunders in front of record 73,126 fans in Texas

For all of the talk about whether Billy Joe Saunders could be the Kryptonite for Canelo Alvarez’s hope of taking one step closer to becoming the undisputed super middleweight champion, Saturday’s unification fight was over just as soon as it started to heat up.

After a mid-fight adjustment saw the tricky Saunders work his way back into the fight, Alvarez finished him off with a right uppercut in Round 8 that swelled and appeared to damage the right eye of Saunders. The native of Great Britain told his corner he could not see out of the eye and the fight was stopped by referee Mark Calo-Oy before the start of Round 9.

RING THE BELL

The fight began with an intriguing opening round as Saunders utilised a number of jabs while Canelo successfully targeted the body.

The Mexican landed his first big punches in the second as he caught his opponent with a couple of hard straight rights, but the Brit seemed unfazed and replied with more consistent jabs.

Canelo continued to increase the tempo in round three and confused Saunders with feints before hammering home body shots.

Saunders responded well, but was hurt for the first time in round eight as he staggered back after being caught with a big counter right uppercut.

It would soon become apparent just how much damage this punch had done.

Canelo pursued his opponent around the ring and landed big shots. The Brit survived the round, but would not emerge for the next.

It was clear that there was a serious problem with Saunders’ eye in the corner and his team stopped the fight, crowning Canelo as the unified WBA, WBC & WBO super-middleweight world champion.

NEXT UP CALEB PLANT

He now wants the International Boxing Federation belt from Caleb Plant to complete the set of titles.

Canelo said post-fight: “I think I broke his cheek and I knew he wasn’t gonna come back out”

“Caleb Plant, for the belt. I’m coming man, I’m coming my friend. I hope we can give the fans that fight.”