An American boxer landed a 1-2 punch combination so powerful it blasted his opponent through the bottom ropes

• Joe Smith Jr. won his WBO light heavyweight title eliminator match at a behind-closed-doors Top Rank show Saturday.
• Smith showed tremendous activity and aggression throughout the bout, beating Eleider Alvarez in the ninth round when he sent him through the ropes with a 1-2.
• Watch the two shots which finished Alvarez below.
• The two 175-pounders were not the only fighters on the card, as cult hero Clay Collard also fought — and won — in "The Bubble."
• You can see Collard's highlight-reel win, too.

The American boxer Joe Smith Jr. landed a one-two punch combination so powerful it blasted his opponent through the bottom ropes in a light heavyweight match Saturday.

Smith secured a ninth-round knockout win over Eleider Alvarez in a bruising main event, which saw the prominent Las Vegas-based fight firm Top Rank return to the MGM Grand Conference Center with a statement.

Top Rank was boxing's first major events company to restart operations following a coronavirus-enforced hiatus in mid-June, with a slate of shows behind-closed-doors in a quarantined studio dubbed "The Bubble."

This weekend's card featured six fights, with Smith taking the headlines for his aggressive victory.

In Compubox data sent to Insider, the 30-year-old out-landed Alvarez in six of the eight rounds up until the ninth round finish.

He landed 135 of his 497 shots (27.2%) but interestingly appeared to abandon the jab, preferring instead to load up on power with 125 significant shots landing from 369 attempted (33.9%).

See the finishing blows here:

The victory was an impressive one for Smith, as Alvarez had only ever lost once before but never finished — with the hard-hitting Russian fighter Sergey Kovalev exchanging a win and a loss with Alvarez in a two-fight rivalry two years ago.

"Coming into this camp, I knew I had to work on my boxing," said Smith post-fight. "I wanted to be sharp, throw a lot of straight punches.

"I watched his fight with Kovalev, and Kovalev kind of set the way to beat him. So we watched that and worked off of it.

"I knew coming in today I had to box a little more because he's got that great right hand. He caught me with it a couple times, but I can take a punch, too.

"Every time he hit me, I wanted to come and stop him in his tracks, and I did that. I stuck to my game plan, and it was a great fight."

As the match was a WBO light heavyweight title eliminator, the win pushes Smith closer to a shot at the vacant championship.

Whoever Smith fights, he appears to be ready. "I feel this one is a big one," he said. "I really needed it. I wanted to prove I'm not just a knockout guy. I proved my boxing ability, too, and I showed that tonight."

Cult hero Clay Collard also triumphed at "The Bubble"

While the worldwide health crisis caused by the worsening spread of COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the combat sports schedule, there has been one fighter who has seemingly crammed years' worth of activity into a few months.

That fighter is the Professional Fighters League (PFL) competitor Clay Collard, a former UFC striker who turned to boxing full-time when the PFL postponed its entire 2020 season.

Top Rank has pushed Collard throughout the summer, lauding him as the "prospect of the year." Fight fans have responded in kind by warming to his TV-friendly fighting style.

Collard fought for the fifth time of the year, and the third during the pandemic, Saturday, brutalizing yet another opponent for fun.

Here, he smacks Maurice Williams around the ring and into the corner, forcing a second-round stoppage.

"I'm just a fighter," Collard said on his new-found fame in the boxing industry.

"I like getting out there as often as possible and entertaining the fans. I appreciate all the love and support from the fans, and I enjoy putting on a show for them.

"Listen, I'll fight as often as possible. I love fighting on these Top Rank shows, and I look forward to the next one. This has been quite the ride."

• Read more:
• Veteran heavyweight Alexander Povetkin got up from the canvas to score a knockout of the year in a must-see match
• Roy Jones Jr. has U-turned on his threat to cancel the Mike Tyson exhibition and is back to promising trouble instead
• A boxing prospect being tipped to conquer 'Canelo' edged closer to the top of the division with a thumping KO Thursday
• Manny Pacquiao would be 'too much' for Floyd Mayweather if the boxers fought for a second time, trainer Freddie Roach said
• A 23-year-old American beat his opponent so ruthlessly the corner had to rescue their fighter from taking any more punishment