Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez is currently Mexico’s biggest boxing star and it’s no surprise that the pound-for-pound king has made fighting on Cinco de Mayo weekend a regular part of his schedule.
A tradition started by the great Julio Cesar Chavez, a number of boxing’s biggest stars including Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather have helped make big boxing fights synonymous with the Mexican festival.
Now, Canelo continues this colourful sporting occasion in an undisputed super-middleweight title defence against John Ryder this Saturday, live on DAZN worldwide (DAZN PPV in the US and Canada).
Ahead of what is set to be a memorable homecoming in Mexico, DAZN takes a look at the Cinco de Mayo fight nights where Canelo shone.
May 5, 2012 – Canelo def. Shane Mosley via UD
In the fourth defence of his WBC light middleweight world title, Canelo faced the experienced Shane Mosley in Las Vegas.
What transpired was a one-sided contest. The Mexican’s hand speed and movement proved too much for the American who showed tremendous heart throughout all 12 rounds.
The judges’ scorecards reflected Canelo’s dominance, two scored the bout 119-109 in his favour while the third judge scored the fight 118-110.
May 7, 2016 – Canelo def. Amir Khan via a round six KO
Amir Khan made a huge step up in weight to challenge Canelo for the WBC world middleweight title and during the first half of the fight, everything was working for Khan.
The Briton’s speed and movement proved a problem for the Mexican who struggled to find his distance. However, come round five, Canelo started to find some success, landing brutal combinations and in round six knocked out Khan with an overhand right.
May 6, 2017 – Canelo def. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. via UD
The T-Mobile Arena turned into a Mexican party when Canelo and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. went head-to-head.
The electric atmosphere was the perfect backdrop to a contest which went back-and-forth, but Canelo always looked like he was in control.
With the fight slowly drifting away, Chavez Jr. went for broke, swinging wildly throughout the second half of the fight, it was clear he lost composure which allowed Canelo to secure the win with all three judges scoring the fight 120-108 in the now pound-for-pound king’s favour.
May 8, 2021 – Canelo def. Billy Joe Saunders via a round eight RTD
Canelo was already a star going to into this fight, but it was this performance that at AT&T Stadium in Texas that made the Mexican a superstar.
Throughout the build-up Billy Joe Saunders looked to be playing mind games, whether it be clashes with Canelo’s team or complaining about the size of the ring, but as expected, Canelo did all his talking inside the ring.
WBO title holder Saunders tried everything he could against the unified super middleweight champion, but in the end, it was Canelo’s power which broke down his opponent.
In round eight, after evading a Saunders right hand, the Mexican unleashed one of his own which damaged his opponent’s right eye. The damage was immediately visible on Saunders whose right eye was swollen almost immediately and had to hold on before the round was brought an end.
Once Saunders made his way back to the corner, trainer Mark Tibbs saw that his fighter couldn’t see out of his right eye and signalled to the referee to end the fight.
This hard-hitting performance, coupled with another vibrant atmosphere and extravagant ring walk cemented Canelo’s place as one of boxing’s great fighters.