Canelo Alvarez further solidified his case as the man to beat in the super middleweight division.

The Mexican now holds 3 of the 4 major belts in the 168-pound division after stopping British Billy Joe Saunders in their unification bout on Saturday, May 8 (Sunday, May 9, Manila time).

Buoyed by the mammoth crowd at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, Alvarez landed a right uppercut squarely on Saunders’ right eye that eventually ended the fight in the eighth round.

With Saunders’ eye visibly swollen, his corner decided to throw in the towel, giving Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 knockouts) the win.

According to promoter Eddie Hearn, Saunders busted his eye socket and his corner refused to let him continue with the bout.

The WBA and WBC champion, Alvarez wrested the WBO super middleweight title from Saunders (30-1, 14 knockouts), who suffered the first defeat of his professional career.

“I knew it. The truth is I knew it. I think I broke his cheek and I knew he was not going to come out,” Canelo said through an interpreter.

Prior to the stoppage, Alvarez led in the scorecards through 8 rounds.

Two judges scored it 78-74, while the other had it 77-75 in favor of Alvarez.

“As I said before, the fight was going to develop by the seventh to eighth rounds and that was what happened,” Alvarez said.

The Mexican said he now has his eyes set on American Caleb Plant, the IBF titleholder, as he aims to hold all 4 major super middleweight belts simultaneously.

“That is the plan – to go for the belt. I’m coming my friend.” – Rappler.com