Great Britain's Liam Smith suffered a ninth-round knockout as he lost his WBO light-middleweight title to Mexican Saul Alvarez in Dallas on Sunday morning.
Smith originally won his title back in October 2015 and had successfully defended it on two occasions prior to the contest, but he was unable to respond to some standout work from Alvarez in the United States.
Alvarez, who has lost just once in 50 professional fights, floored Smith first in the seventh, before going on to produce a memorable body-punch in the ninth that left the 28-year-old on the deck and unable to beat the official's count.
The Mexican is now expected to fight Kazakh Gennady Golovkin in his next encounter, in hope of earning a shot at the champion's WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight titles.
