The first man to land his Sunday punch was going to win the fight. Former world champion Eleider "Storm" Alvarez returned from a nearly one-year layoff to knock out Michael "Cannon Handz" Seals with a single overhand right at the end of the seventh round Saturday evening at Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Alvarez (25-1, 13 KOs) is back following a disappointing decision defeat to Sergey Kovalev last February, the man he knocked out to win the WBO light heavyweight world title.

Afterwards, Alvarez explained that he was working on that big right hand throughout training camp.

Ironically, he also crushed Kovalev with a big right hand in their first meeting in 2018, which Alvarez landed for an eventual knockout that also happened in the seventh round.

“During training camp, we practiced {the right hand} over and over. My trainer was mad at me at first because I wasn’t doing what he was asking. Finally, we got the knockout," Alvarez said.

“I was out of the ring for 11 months. I wanted to come back as the fighter that beat Kovalev, and this is what we practiced for.”

Also on the card, Felix "El Diamante" Verdejo 2.0 is off to a smooth start. Verdejo (26-1, 16 KOs), in his first fight since linking up with noted trainer Ismael Salas, outboxed Manuel Rey Rojas (18-4, 5 KOs) over 10 rounds in the lightweight co-feature by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93.

Verdejo has now won three in a row since the lone defeat of his career and, at 26 years old, is entering what should be his physical prime.

Abraham "El Super" Nova (18-0, 14 KOs) had a dominant Top Rank debut, knocking out Mexican veteran Pedro Navarrete (30-25-3, 19 Kos) in round four of a scheduled eight-round lightweight bout. Nova has now won four in a row via stoppage.