The highly-anticipated "Fight of The Century" between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao last weekend fizzled into a low-action disappointment.
But the Canelo Alvarez-James Kirkland bout this past Saturday night gave boxing fans the fireworks they have been waiting for. Heavy fireworks.
Alvarez knocked Kirkland down three times, before viciously ending the fight — emphasis on fight — with an obliterating right hook for the third-round knockout. The nearly-32,000 raucous fans at the first-ever boxing card at Minute Maid Park — home of the Houston Astros — made the night that much more electric in three rounds that completely made us forget about Mayweather-Pacquiao. Sorry, guys.
Oscar De La Hoya couldn't have been more dead-on following the fight.
"This is exactly what needed to happen," the boxing legend and Golden Boy president told ESPN. "Mayweather-Pacquiao — people will forget. Styles make fights, and when Kirkland is ready, he will walk through anyone, but Canelo was ready, too. He was stronger and smarter."
Kirkland had Alvarez pinned up against the ropes as he unloaded with body shots during the fight's first minute. But from there, it was all Alvarez. The 24-year-old fighter started working the body himself, unloading his own barrage of hooks and uppercuts.
A right uppercut spelled the beginning of the end for Kirkland, who rose to one knee and took the full standing eight-count in an attempt to recover and buy a little time. The ref blatantly told Kirkland that he has to show him something, but Alvarez was the only one doing the showing, finishing off the fight with a devastating right hook that spun Kirkland around and dropped him sprawled out onto his back for the knockout.
"I did not know I was knocked out," Kirkland would say after the fight, before being taken to the hospital for a CT scan.
This was one of the most explosive three rounds in recent boxing memory. Spend under two minutes watching the highlights below and we dare you to disagree.
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