KO Of The Day: Canelo Destroys James Kirkland

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez was on a seek-and-destroy mission against American James Kirkland in front of a raucous Houston, Texas, crowd as he extended his win streak to three following the first loss on his professional record to Floyd Mayweather by winning in emphatic fashion.

The fight took place at a baseball stadium home to the Houston Astros and Canelo dished out a home run style-KO, delivering a vicious right-hand securing a third-round victory not to mention being awarded with the Ring magazine 2015 knock-out of the year. And you can see why.

_{(Canelo lands a a jab to the face of Kirkland)}

As advertised, Kirkland came in hot. Aggressive and applying heavy pressure. But the risky strategy proved to be his eventual downfall playing right into the hands of Canelo who picked him off with the more accurate and harder punches.

Despite being tagged, Kirkland maintained the pressure but continued to be whaled on until the third round. Dogged as ever, Kirkland's persistence ultimately ran out after a clean uppercut stopped him in his track, flooring the 'away' fighter. The writing was on the wall. Kirkland fought on before Canelo unleashed a brutal overhand turning the lights off.

_{(Video courtesy of HBO Boxing)}

Topics: Boxing, Canelo

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado, and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Darren Till, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

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