Floyd Mayweather is one of just two men to have defeated Canelo Alvarez.
The two boxing greats met at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas back in September 2013 with Mayweather defending his WBA super-welterweight title while Canelo was the reigning WBC champion at 154lbs.
With a record of 44-0 and at the age of 36, Mayweather was the long-time pound-for-pound number one, while rising star Canelo was 23 and dubbed as the future of the sport.
Heading into the bout, many onlookers believed that Alvarez could be the one to hand Mayweather his first professional defeat, but the American proved exactly why he is classed as one of the best fighters in recent history.
Mayweather dominated the majority of the action and won the fight on points, even though the judges had it closer than it should have been, with scores of 114-114, 116-112 and 117-111.
The American would compete just five more times after that bout, while Canelo has gone on to become the biggest name in the sport over the next decade, claiming world honours at middleweight, super-middleweight and light heavyweight along the way.
While he may have won the clash against Alvarez comfortably, Mayweather has told Bet Online that if he had taken on Canelo during his prime, he would have stopped his rival.
“Canelo Alvarez is a hell of a fighter. [People talk about] a prime Floyd vs a prime Canelo. I fought the prime Canelo. I was the older Mayweather fighting the prime Canelo. If it was a prime Floyd vs a prime Canelo, the fight wouldn’t have gone the distance.”
Some boxing fans believe Mayweather’s prime to have come in the early 2000s, where he claimed stoppage victories over the likes of Diego Corrales and Arturo Gatti.
He still went on to defeat a number of huge names in his later years though, claiming memorable victories over the likes of Manny Pacquiao and Oscar De La Hoya, to show exactly why he dubs himself as ‘The Best Ever.’
