Round-by-round: Canelo Alvarez KOs Liam Smith with punishing body shots in ninth round

Canelo Alvarez, Paste BN/Boxing Junkie's No. 7-ranked pound-for-pound fighter, handed England's Liam Smith his first career loss with a ninth-round knockout and took the WBO 154-pound title from Smith (23-1-1, 13 KOs) at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, the home of the NFL Dallas Cowboys, on Saturday.

More the 51,000 people packed the cavernous stadium to watch the popular Mexican redhead (48-1-1, 34 KOs), the lineal middleweight champion, who stayed on track for a highly anticipated showdown, perhaps next year, against middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.

Here's the round-by-round analysis of the HBO pay-per-view fight, won easily by Alvarez, who knocked Smith, from England, down for the first three times of his career.

Round 1: Both fighters come out swinging. Nice combo by Canelo. Beefy jabs Canelo. Canelo jabbing too. Left uppercut by Canelo. His jab is stiff. Right hand off the jab from Canelo. Wasting no time, showing Smith who's boss. Easy round for Canelo.

Round 2: Canelo throwing punishing shots. Smith comes back with a flurry but not to the body. Nice right hand by Smith. Three quick lefts by Canelo to the body. Canelo's left is quick and has to hurt Smith. Canelo has a abrasion around his left eye. Smith follows with a hard right. A very close round but I think Canelo did more work. Canelo up 2-0 on my card.

Round 3: Canelo comes forward and looks for his opening as he gets Smith on the ropes. Right uppercut by Canelo lands. Smith not moving around that much, giving Canelo a target. Canelo throws body shots and more combos. Smith returns a left hook but Canelo comes back with a combo of his own, including a right uppercut. Smith counters with an uppercut. Canelo round again, 3-0.

Round 4: Canelo using his left a lot, landing hard shots early, then Smith comes back with a hard right uppercut. Canelo throwing some hard combinations. Alvarez eats a hard right by Smith on the ropes. Two more hard rights by Smith and he grazes Alvarez with another right as the bell rings. I give this round to Smith for his late work. 3-1 Alvarez.

Round 5: Smith goes to the body and uses his jab effectively to keep Canelo off him. Canelo throws two right uppercuts as Smith gets him on the ropes, but Canelo counters with a couple of rights, one high, one to the body. Great flurry by Smith on the ropes, catches Canelo in the face with a hard right. Some big shots up high and Smith finishes with a flurry to win the round. 3-2 Canelo on my card.

Round 6: Canelo and Smith trade big punches. Smith gaining momentum, though Canelo is backing him up. These guys are throwing hard shots. Canelo knows he's in a fight. Canelo comes off the ropes to land several shots. Smith bleeding profusely from the right eye. Canelo wins a close round. 4-2 Canelo at the halfway point.

Round 7: Smith throwing but Canelo not feeling the power and Canelo knocks Smith down for the first time in his career. Canelo going after him. Smith gutting it out as he holds Canelo. Smith avoids a fight-ending shot. Canelo hurting the Brit with every body shot. Left hook by Smith as he finishes the round with a flurry. 10-8 round for Canelo, his best round.

Round 8: Canelo looking to take it to Smith and maybe end the fight here. Jabs followed by hard right hands. Smith unloads on Canelo on the ropes, certainly not giving up here. Canelo sitting on the ropes and lands a body shot that drops Smith again. Wow. Bruising body shots by Canelo. Smith getting beat up here. Another 10-8 round for Canelo.

Round 9: Canelo's power is really wearing on Smith. Body shots that would drop lesser fighters and have dropped Smith too. Another hard right. Canelo unloads body shots on Smith on the ropes. Follows with two right uppercuts that land. A vicious left liver shot to the body and Smith goes down again, and this time he doesn't get up. It's over at 2:28 of the ninth round, a KO for Canelo, as expected.

(Photo of Alvarez, as Smith goes down in the nith round to end the fight Saturday, by LM Otero, the Associated Press