Canelo Alvarez has named his three hardest-hitting opponents in a 68-fight career that will guarantee him Hall of Fame status.
The Mexican is now gearing up to face WBC champion Christian Mbilli, bidding to reclaim a quarter of the undisputed super-middleweight crown he lost to Terence Crawford.
This defeat came in September 2025 and followed his other two losses, against Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol, which many respectively attributed to experience and size disadvantages.
Indeed, Canelo was far from a natural light-heavyweight but Bivol, nevertheless, deserves full credit for implementing an effective gameplan and winning their 2022 encounter by unanimous decision.
Alvarez was also comprehensively outboxed when he faced Mayweather in 2013 but, while campaigning at 154lbs, the four-division world champion rarely seemed overly bothered by the power of his opponents.
Instead, he unsurprisingly experienced more thudding blows from Gennady Golovkin, who was unfortunate not to win their middleweight showdown in 2017.
After boxing to a draw, Canelo then emerged with a less dubious majority decision victory in their rematch the following year, before becoming the undisputed super-middleweight king and dethroning Sergey Kovalev for the WBO 175lb title in 2019.
At the time, Kovalev was a far cry from his formidable prime but, even so, Alvarez has named the ‘Krusher’ as one of his most powerful opponents.
As for the third biggest puncher he has ever faced, Canelo told STORY SPORT that, despite stopping him in three rounds, he also felt the super-welterweight power of James Kirkland when they collided in 2015.
Super-middleweight world champion Mbilli, meanwhile, boasts a similar knockout record to Kirkland as he looks to defeat the 36-year-old Canelo on October 31.
