What are the biggest matches in Canelo Álvarez’s career? Mayweather, Coto, GGG, Plant and who else?

Widely considered to be the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world at the moment, Canelo Álvarez is truly a star of the sport today. As we approach his next match in which he will face his mandatory challenger, WBO interim champ John Ryder, we break down his biggest fights ever.’

Canelo Alvaraz’s top fights

On on May 6th, 2023, Canelo Álvarez will step into the ring with WBO interim super middleweight champ John Ryder at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara. With that said, we decided there was no better time to take a look at some of the best fights in Álvarez’s career. Given that he’s now sitting on a record of 57 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses, you can bet there have been quite a few. With no further delays, let’s get into them.

Miguel Cotto

It was November 2015, and with 900,000 PPV buys and more than $58 million gross, the fight between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Álvarez was everything fans hoped it would be. Cotto had just come from consecutive losses to Mayweather and Trout but had every reason to fancy his chances against the younger Alvarez. To that end, the Puerto Rican attempted to outbox the Mexican, who was 10 years his junior, but Canelo’s precision and power soon became the difference. In the end, Álvarez claimed victory by unanimous decision, losing just six of a possible 36 rounds across three scorecards. “I will always respect him, and he’s a great champion,” Álvarez said at the time. “But now it’s my era.”

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Though many will debate the point based on action, tactics, or even length, the fight against “Pretty Boy” Floyd has got to be considered the absolute biggest of Canelo’s career. Though it ultimately resulted in the first loss of his career, the fight generated a revenue of $150 million to the tune of $2.2 million PPV buys. It was understandably disappointing for the Mexican, but given the narrow margin of victory that Mayweather escaped with, there was no need for shame on Álvarez’s part. After all, he lost to the man many consider the GOAT.

Gennady Golovkin Trilogy

Given that we’re on the cusp of the third fight between these two titans of boxing, it’s a no-brainer that their previous two fights would be included. In their first dance, it was quite frankly a matchup between the two best pound-for-pound boxers in the division at the time. Fans got exactly what they were hoping for in terms of a fight filled with power, precision, and high agility. These were two boxers in their absolute prime. Yet, the result brought controversy, with the fight being judged a split draw. Needless to say, demands for a rematch were almost immediate.

In that rematch, more controversy would follow. This time Canelo claimed the victory by unanimous decision. Still, the judge’s scorecards left many puzzled and upset, especially when the large majority of media outlets which covered the fight seemed to award the win to Golovkin. Then in the third installment of the Trilogy fight, Saúl ‘Canelo’ Álvarez had a convincing win over Gennady Golovkin at Super Middleweight.

Julio César Chávez Jr.

An all-Mexican affair, the fight between two of the country’s biggest boxing stars was massive. Indeed, with 1 million PPV buys and a revenue of $80 million, it was every bit as exciting as it was lucrative for all involved. Ultimately, Alvarez would prove that he was fast becoming one of the sport’s greatest-ever fighters with an absolutely dominant performance over Chávez.

Caleb Plant

This one had bad blood brewing before the pair entered the ring. Fans will remember that both got into a physical confrontation when they appeared for the fight’s first press conference. Alvarez actually started the conflict with a push after taking exception with Plant’s use of the word “motherf---er,” claiming that the American had insulted his mother. Plant would later correctly point to the Mexican’s hypocrisy, by pointing out the fact that he too had used the same term following his fight against Billy Joe Saunders back in May of 2021. In the end Alvarez won the fight via an 11th-round TKO and with that became the first undisputed super middleweight champion in boxing history.

Amir Khan

Having taken the belt from the aforementioned Cotto, this was actually Alvarez’s first defense of his WBC middleweight belt. Standing as the challenger was Britain’s Amir Khan, and the 140-pound challenger actually possessed a slight advantage in both height and reach, but it must be said that it was not the case in the power department. Indeed, that would be the telling difference in the 6th round when Canelo caught him with an overhand right that came after a feinted jab. Khan took it square on the chin and likely didn’t even feel the impact of the floor when he hit it unconscious. “I was getting in the ring with a big guy, unfortunately, and I didn’t make it to the end,” Khan said at the time.

With that, we hope you enjoyed our look at the Mexican’s best fights. Be sure to check in with us this weekend as we will be sure to bring you all the build-up to Canelo’s fight against John Ryder right here on AS USA!