In a year which saw pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez become undisputed super-middleweight champion, the Mexican star says his win over Billy Joe Saunders stands out as one of his more enjoyable nights.
Alvarez met WBO title-holder Saunders before 73,126 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington on May 8, which set the record for the biggest USA indoor boxing crowd.
After being subject to taunts from Saunders as well as complaints about ring size and judges during the build-up to their unification bout, Alvarez forced the Brit’s corner to pull their man out after eight rounds with a series of visibly damaging facial blows.
“I think Caleb Plant was a bigger fight because there was only one more belt left, so the magnitude of the fight was bigger, but the fight I enjoyed a lot was Billy Joe Saunders, because he talked a lot of s**t and we had 73,000 people in the arena,” Alvarez said to The Ring after winning their Fighter of the Year award.
“I loved [setting the attendance record], because for me, I’m gonna be in the history books of boxing for that too. So for me it’s huge, and I hope I can break that record soon.”