“Canelo” Alvarez Faces Liam Smith For The WBO’s Super Welterweight Title
September 14, 2016 in Sports News
Saul “El Canelo” Alvarez (47-1-1, 33 by KO ) and Liam “Beefy” Smith (23-0-1, 13 by KO) square off on Saturday for WBO’s world super welterweight championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The home of the Dallas Cowboys expects a sell-out crowd for the fight between Smith, the titleholder, and Alvarez, who has won his last five fights.
In the last two years Alvarez, a native of Jalisco, Guadalajara, has had knockout victories over Texan James Kirkland and Briton Amir Khan, as well as a unanimous decision victory over Puerto Rican Migue Cotto.
Smith, a 28-year-old British fighter from Liverpool, is unbeaten in 24 career fights, with the only draw on his resume coming in his sixth fight, all the way back in 2010. In his last eight fights he has seven TKOs and one knockout.
The last time Smith entered the ring was in June of this year to defend his title against Montenegrinan Predrag Radosevic, a fight that ended in the second round with a knockout.
Smith won his title in a fight against American John Thompson on January of last year and has since defended the title successfully two times. The first time he defended his title was in December of last year against fellow Briton Jimmy Kelly in a fight that Smith via TKO in the seventh round.
Oddmakers don’t think that Smith will be able to defend his title for the third time as the 26-year-old Alvarez is the favorite at -1200, while Smith line is at +650.