Canelo Álvarez vs. Liam Smith was a professional boxing match contested on September 17, 2016, for the WBO light middleweight championship.

[1] Shortly after his victory for Amir Khan, Canelo Álvarez and his team invited fellow middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin into the ring to promote a future fight between them.

[3] On 24 June, it was announced that Álvarez was to drop back to 154 and challenge 27 year old WBO champion Liam Smith on 17 September, in the main event of HBO PPV card.

On 18 July, Golden Boy Promotions confirmed that the bout would take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas being the other venue in contention to host the fight.

A left hook to the body in round nine sent Smith down again and he failed to beat to count, giving Álvarez a knockout victory.