Since Floyd Mayweather left the sport of boxing, no has taken the star spotlight as Canelo Alvarez. Networks have bid over the services of Alvarez, who keeps signing historic contracts for unfathomable riches. Why?

Canelo seemingly always delivers. An entertaining fighter, with a star personality, who is more than likely the greatest Mexican boxer of all-time, has had the sport of boxing on his back for the past decade and now has his eyes set on becoming a two-time undisputed champion, already doing so at super middleweight and now eyeballing light heavyweight.

In short, Alvarez is boxing greatness, when he fights you should watch if you like boxing, as he is the industry-leader at the moment.

Here are ten performances that are worth noting prior to his Saturday, May 7th, fight against Dmitry Bivol on DAZN PPV – also visit the podcast for a pod on this subject today

01. Amir Khan

The most iconic moment of Canelo’s career in my mind was his magnificent one-punch KO of Amir Khan on one of the last HBO Boxing events that the world tuned into to see. Alvarez, who was getting outboxed by Khan landed a devastating punch that dropped the questionably chinned Khan, who would lay motionless on the canvas for minutes. A highlight-reel KO for the ages.

02. Sergey Kovalev

A fight that will always seem strange to a purist, as Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev, a man who was one of the biggest punchers of any division in the past 20 years, looked to outbox the smaller Canelo Alvarez, and was doing that until being stopped late in the fight. The fight showed many things one of which, Canelo’s power and intimidation could force a bigger man to fight in a new way, but also that he could win a fight when it looked like he could be on the verge of a loss. This win often gets overlooked

03. Gennady Golovkin Rematch

It is pretty clear Golovkin beat Canelo in the first fight and though I feel Golovkin edged the second fight, Canelo fought a fight no one saw coming from him. Canelo marched forward, put on Golovkin as Golovkin boxed Canelo, but Canelo became what Golovkin was in his prime, a smart pressure fighter. After this fight, was the death of the Canelo, who wanted to be like Floyd, as from the Golovkin rematch onward, Canelo would fight not unlike Golovkin against most of his opponents.

04. James Kirkland

Kirkland could be one of boxing’s greatest what-ifs. A guy who never could get it together, but a bruting pressure fighter, who was a tough night for anyone. Alvarez on his last bout on network television, HBO to be exact, from a baseball stadium brutally knocked out Kirkland, in a fight that was way too much fun for what it was. Not unlike the Khan fight, an iconic moment.

05. Erislandy Lara

Though diehard boxing fans will tell you Lara beat Canelo, the fight was very close, and at the time, Lara was being avoided by most. Lara had lost a weird fight to Paul Williams, where most people didn’t believe he lost a round. Lara would go on stage to call out Canelo, and Canelo would make the fight, but what we saw was Canelo’s pressure, making it so Lara a low-volume boxer, lacked the output to sway the judges. This was a prime Lara that Canelo beat

06. Caleb Plant

The fight Canelo had to win to become an undisputed 168 lbs fighter, and once again, showed Canelo’s ability to adjust. Plant had a solid game plan to outbox Canelo, and Canelo, a true prizefight veteran found a way to put pressure on Plant physically and mentally as it was just as much about the experience the two had in big fights as it was about the fight itself. Canelo’s ability to take command of the second half of this fight was impressive.

07. Austin Trout

At the time, Austin Trout had just beaten Miguel Cotto, and was looked at as a low-reward, high-risk fighter, not unlike Erislandy Lara. Trout was viewed as the “first real test” for Canelo Alvarez. What we saw was a fight that had the whole sporting world watching as Canelo Alvarez’s knockdown of Trout seemed to be the margin of victory for the fight. At the time, Alvarez was thought to be an industry creation and not a generational-type talent, so this fight was looked at as a very close fight to call.

08. Jose Miguel Cotto

Fighting Cotto’s brother on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley PPV, saw a young Canelo get rocked, but come back to stop Cotto. It was a memorable debut, and one in which we saw both glimpses of a young star, as well as brought up questions that made us wonder how far he could go. When you look at this fight and see where he is now, you can’t help but respect the growth.

09. Miguel Cotto

Worth noting that Cotto was past his prime but had just had one of the best runs of his career at middleweight while working with Freddie Roach. A major event that saw a somewhat evenly contested, bout that showed the younger, bigger Canelo winning on skill and size. It will be a big name on Alvarez’s record, but it wasn’t all that memorable of a fight.

10. Floyd Mayweather

Fighting Floyd Mayweather at the height of Floyd’s PPV stardom was something else. Canelo and Floyd did massive PPV numbers in a fight that all of boxing tune-in to see what would happen. The result, Mayweather outboxed Canelo, and even still, one judge saw the bout shockingly as even. The narrative from this fight was – after bout, Canelo leveled up after facing Mayweather. Moreso, I think it was fighting on that type stage that helped him the most.