Mexican Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez insists he is ready to take on Gennady Golovkin after beating Liam Smith on Saturday night, although he claims the Kazakh has turned down a fight with him.

The 26-year-old added another world title to his impressive collection after producing a brilliant performance at the AT&T Stadium in Texas.

Alvarez knocked the Liverpool fighter to the canvas on three occasions but Smith showed plenty of heart and determination throughout the fight.

He was knocked down in the seventh and eighth before getting back up but he was unable to recover from a vicious body shot in the ninth.

The defeat was the first of Smith’s career and Alvarez won the WBO super-welterweight title in the process but he has been linked with a fight at middleweight against Golovkin.

He received plenty of criticism for vacating his WBC middleweight strap earlier this year but Alvarez has claimed Golovkin has turned down a contract offer in the last few weeks. Canelo told HBO: “I fear nobody.

I was born for this and even though many people may not like it, I’m the best fighter right now.

“About a month ago, we offered him [Golovkin] twice or three times as much to make the fight. I didn’t want to say anything because I respect my rivals.

He didn’t want to accept. “We’re a team. I’m not going to blame my promoter or anyone else.

I fear nobody. I’m 26 years old, I’ve fought the best in history and as I’ve already said, I’m the best at this moment in time.”