Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez is 65 fights into an extremely decorated career.
Currently undisputed at super-middleweight, the 33-year-old has won world titles in three other divisions including up at the light-heavyweight limit of 175lbs.
Despite competing there against bigger men in Sergey Kovalev and Dmitry Bivol, as well as facing big hitters like Miguel Cotto and Gennady Golovkin, it was at 154 Canelo faced his biggest puncher.
Speaking to the media, the elite Mexican, who has never been knocked down as a pro and only lost twice on points, was asked if trading with Golovkin was a dangerous strategy. He said no, and revealed that the hardest hitter he has faced was one James Kirkland down in the super-welterweight ranks.
“I don’t care. If you want something in life you need risk a little bit, right? No [Golovkin is not the hardest puncher I’ve fought.] Kirkland. It was unbelievable. I feel the punches right here, like oh my god.
Kirkland took the fight straight to Alvarez when they fought back in 2015, but the Mexican scored a knockdown in the first and then finished the job with two uppercuts in the third, the second of which laid the American flat on his back.
Highly-rated by the boxing world in his early career, Kirkland’s campaign was set back significantly by a prison stint in 2009. He never challenged for a world title and last competed back in 2020. His current record stands at 34-3 with 30 wins by stoppage but all three losses coming the same way.
