Canelo Alvarez Knocks Out James Kirkland In Third Round

After the Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather fight put fans to sleep, the Canelo Alvarez and James Kirkland slugfest showed why boxing still has a pulse.

Alvarez walked in with a two-fight winning streak after posting his first loss in a 12-round majority decision versus Mayweather. On the other hand, Kirkland is coming off of time off due to legal troubles. Still, he is riding a four-fight winning streak with his last bout boasting an impressive sixth-round knockout against Glen Tapia in 2013.

Needless to say, there was some hype behind this fight with both fighters boasting over 25 wins via knockout. And though it was extremely short, it really did not disappoint. Kirkland came out swinging, but Alvarez played amazing defense and fired back in the first round, catching Kirkland with a quick right to send him to the mat for the first of three times.

And while Kirkland responded in the second with heavy blows, he never recovered from the initial knockdown. He spent a lot of time on the ropes with Alvarez just teeing off on him. It was only a matter of time before he went down again, with a right uppercut doing the job against the sluggish former middleweight champion.

But it was not until the third round that the fight was called, as Alvarez had Kirkland pinned against the ropes yet again. Then Canelo delivered a jaw-dropping right that spun his opponent around and sent him collapsing to the mat out cold. Referee Jon Schorle quickly ended the match with 2:19 left in the third round.

In the end, Alvarez landed a whooping 87 out of 150 total punches (58 percent) and Kirkland only landed 42 of 197 (21 percent).