On August 22, 2020, a 36-year-old Eleider Álvarez (25-1, 13 KOs) and a 30-year-old American boxer Joe Smith Jr. (25-3, 20 KOs) met in the ring.
Álvarez came in to the fight on a 1-fight win streak with a 50% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 7 months and 4 days. Smith Jr. was on a 1-fight win streak with a 71% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 7 months and 11 days.
Joe Smith Jr. stopped Eleider Álvarez via KO in the 9th round. Smith Jr. improves his record to 26-3 (21 KOs), while Álvarez adds a loss to his record at 25-2.
On February 2, 2019, Eleider Álvarez and Sergey Kovalev met again in an immediate rematch.
Álvarez came in to the fight on a 24-fight win streak with a 50% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 5 months and 29 days. Kovalev was on a -1-fight win streak with a 77% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 5 months and 29 days.
Sergey Kovalev defeated Eleider Álvarez via unanimous decision in the rematch and wins the WBO title. Kovalev improves his record to 33-3-1, while Álvarez adds a loss to his record at 24-1.