Cotto-Alvarez: Comparing the knockouts

Saturday's headline bout between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez is shaping up to be the year's best, with two high-profile fighters, boasting two distinct styles, meeting at two very different stages in their famed careers.

The power game is Canelo's, and if Cotto is to avoid a similar fate to that of his brother, Jose Miguel - who lost by TKO in May 2010 to the then-teenage Alvarez at the MGM in Las Vegas - he'll have to steer clear of the Mexican's weighted strikes.

That's not to say Cotto can't turn back the clock under the career-reformative tutelage of trainer Freddie Roach to unleash an array of robust punches.

Here's a look at some noteworthy knockouts from Saturday's opponents:

Miguel Cotto (40-4-0, 33 KOs):

Cotto def. Ricardo Mayorga TKO 12 (March 12, 2011)

On the decline of a memorable career, Mayorga took a 12-round beating from Cotto in 2011 before announcing his quasi-retirement postmatch. A lightning-fast right-left combination from the Puerto Rican, near the peak of his powers, dazed the Nicaraguan before he folded like an umbrella in the wind.

Cotto def. Delvin Rodriguez TKO 3 (Nov. 5, 2013)

The Puerto Rican's first of three victories on the trot with Roach in his corner featured a reinvigorated Cotto mixing lethal body shots and overhand rights with a left hook that stung Rodriguez numerous times in the second and third rounds. The hook that caught the Dominican on the chin in the third signaled Cotto's re-emergence on the scene.

Canelo Alvarez (45-1-1, 32 KOs):

Alvarez def. Carlos Baldomir KO 6 (Sept. 18, 2010)

Barely 20 at the time, Alvarez handed Baldomir his fourth defeat in six matches. The Uruguayan's string of futility started by losing two belts he took from the late Arturo Gatti - the WBC and IBA welterweight titles - to Floyd Mayweather and ended with a violent left hook that would become the young Mexican's trademark punch. Sweet dreams.

Alvarez def. Alfonso Gomez TKO 6 (Sept. 17, 2011)

On the undercard of Mayweather-Victor Ortiz at the MGM in Vegas, the bout against countryman Alfonso Gomez was Canelo's first on the big stage.

After Gomez backed Canelo into the corner, Canelo unleashed two sharp right hooks and a left before chasing his opponent, 10 years his senior, across the canvas to pummel him with a dozen shots, including a left hook to the ribs followed by a nasty right hook on the temple behind Gomez's glove.

Alvarez def. Kermit Cintron TKO 5 (Nov. 26, 2011)

A little more than two months after battering Gomez, Alvarez punished a much-taller Cintron in front of a one-sided crowd in Mexico City.

The young Mexican punished his angular opponent with an overhand right all match, before a left-hook, right-hand passage of punches dazed the Puerto Rican, and Canelo repeated it for good measure as Cintron fell into the referee's welcoming arms.

Alvarez def. James Kirkland KO 3 (May 9, 2015)

Alvarez’s super welterweight tuneup match in May against Kirkland was a chance to work out the kinks in advance of Saturday's main event. Video of the third-round knockout is a testament to Alvarez's power, and a study in the contortions of a fighter's face when struck with a vicious hook.