Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez admitted he thought Billy Joe Saunders had suffered a broken cheekbone after he caught the Englishman with a flurry of punches on his way to a unification victory in Texas.

A vicious uppercut during the eighth round saw the bout halted prematurely after Saunders' trainer Mark Tibbs called an end to proceedings before the ninth round.

While the judges had Alvarez ahead on all three cards, the Briton had briefly stunned the Mexican in the fifth with a strong left hook but it was not enough.

The WBA, WBC and WBO-title holder told reporters at a post-fight press conference: "Not much to say (to Billy Joe), he is a great fighter, like I said. This fight couldn't happen without him. I'm glad he took the fight and we will continue to make history.

While Andrade has desires on facing the Guadalajara-born fighter next, IBF champion Caleb Plant is in the sights of Saunders' conqueror, who wants to claim all four major world titles at 168lbs.

Alvarez has now defeated seven English fighters, including Callum Smith in December, and was promoted by Eddie Hearn for this contest, who lauded the 30-year-old after the AT&T Stadium bout.

The Matchroom chief said: "There is no excuse why the Caleb Plant fight shouldn't be made. In terms of stars, I've not seen anything like that.

"Of course Anthony Joshua in the UK, but in America and around the world, the numbers and interest, the digital numbers all week and the numbers globally on DAZN, Canelo is a superstar."