Underdog Liam Smith Looks to Leave a Lasting Impression Against Saul Alvarez

For his debut on American soil, Liam Smith couldn't have picked a much tougher task.

The WBO light middleweight champion is not only up against Saul Alvarez, he's also going up against a hyped-up, pro-Canelo crowd in Arlington, Texas. The AT&T Stadium will be a home away from home for a Mexican fighter in action on Saturday during the weekend when his country celebrates its independence.

Some would have backed away from such a monumental challenge. Smith, however, has embraced it. In fact, he couldn't have asked for anything better.

Beefy—one of four fighting brothers from the city of Liverpool, England, and the only one so far to win a world title—was desperate to fight one of the superstars at 154 pounds.

He has a career record of 23-0-1 (13 KOs), but the list of victims lacks a name of real substance. Even when he got his shot at the vacant WBO belt, Smith ended up facing a late replacement in John Thompson.

There's nothing replacement-level about Canelo, though.

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If Smith is a bit of an unknown outside of Britain, which is understandable considering he hasn't previously fought abroad, he sure picked the right opponent to make a name for himself in the United States.

To some, it may look like Alvarez has gone for the safest option on his return to the division. However, he has already beaten Erislandy Lara (the WBA champion), while twins Jermall (IBF) and Jermell Charlo (WBC) are part of Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions stable, making negotiations with fellow promoters Golden Boy a little tricky.

Smith, however, is not a soft touch. At 28, he's in his prime years. He also goes into the biggest bout of his career on a run of eight successive stoppage wins.

It admittedly seems unlikely that streak continues beyond the weekend—Canelo's only defeat in his 49 pro outings was on points to Floyd Mayweather Jr.—but Smith is willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Whatever happens, the clash between two aggressive fighters should be fun to watch. Smith expects to put on a show at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, as he told Tom Gray of The Ring:

"

This will be a great fight because the styles are going to gel. Canelo’s at his best when he comes forward and is letting his hands go and I’m at my best when I’m doing the same. I don’t see how we can make for a bad fight. It’s whoever gets their game plan working and if Canelo doesn’t hurt me and hurt me early, it’s going to be a long night for him.

"

Canelo is no stranger to facing Englishmen. He boxed Matthew Hatton and Ryan Rhodes back in 2011, while his last outing was against Amir Khan at a catchweight of 155 pounds.

Khan—who stepped up from welterweight—did well for the opening five rounds in May. Hitting and moving, he gave Alvarez plenty to contemplate before a lapse in concentration saw him laid out by a straight right.

Smith, who sparred with his compatriot before that bout, will provide completely different problems.

To start with, he's a full-blown light middleweight. Stocky and strong with square shoulders fit for heavy lifting, he gained the nickname Beefy for being a big baby, yet it still nicely sums up his body shape.

BoxRec list him at 5′9 ½″. View any footage of him, and you might think he's smaller, but his stance makes him look that way, as he tucks his chin into his chest and holds his hands up high for protection.

Khan is all about hand speed and combinations, about hitting and moving. Smith, in contrast, won't be hard to locate.

The Liverpudlian is aggressive, cutting off angles in a manner similar to Gennady Golovkin (no, he's obviously not as good as GGG, before you point that out) and then exploiting a weakness.

His focus switches to whatever area is open—and already he's seen openings to exploit against Alvarez, as he told Jeff Zimmerman of FightNews.com: "He’s not defensively the best fighter. His non-punching hand is not very good. He doesn’t throw a left and he keeps his right hand on his chin. Little things like that."

Keeping his right hand up could be a painful error, as Smith loves to throw the left hook to the body. He's also keen to let go uppercuts once he's worked his way inside his opponent.

His desire to dominate may prove his undoing, yet there's no point in trying to change what has worked to get him here in the first place.

The underdog—per Odds Shark, Canelo has 2-25 odds to win on Saturday—cannot hope to copy Khan's style. Nor can he replicate the way Mayweather Jr. controlled the Mexican from a distance.

Instead, Miguel Cotto laid out a potential blueprint for success...provided you forget that the Puerto Rican didn't actually succeed.

Cotto lost to Alvarez by unanimous decision last November, although the scorecards of 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 didn't really do his performance justice.

Junito consistently used the jab (he threw 374 of them but landed just 54, according to CompuBox's stats used by Bryan Armen Graham of the Guardian) to try to set up attacks to both head and body. The plan was a good one, yet the problem was his lack of size and speed.

At 35, he's also at the tail end of a career that saw him start out as a super lightweight.

Unlike Cotto, Smith won't be trying to cope with facing a bigger man in the ring—he's used to campaigning at 154, a weight Canelo hasn't had to make since facing Mayweather Jr. in September 2013. A solitary pound doesn't sound like a lot to lose, but the last one is always the hardest to shift.

Smith is fresh and focused. This isn't about earning money—it's about earning respect. Alvarez has given him the chance to prove he belongs among the elite. Don't be shocked if Smith takes it with both hands.