May 4, 2015 was when Stephen Curry's status as a true NBA superstar was confirmed.

Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez was already established as a boxing royalty when, exactly four years later, he added another belt to his collection.

Here we take a look at major sporting events that have occurred on May 4 in previous years.

 

2015: Curry wins first MVP award

The Golden State Warriors' decision to hire Steve Kerr as their head coach prior to the 2014-15 season paid dividends as it transformed point guard Curry into one of the NBA's best.

Curry had only been selected for one All-Star Game before his 2014-15 MVP campaign, when he broke his own record for single-season three-pointers by nailing 286 shots from beyond the arc. 

The first of three NBA championships in four years soon followed as Curry spearheaded a new NBA dynasty.

He would win the MVP award again in 2016 - the season when the Warriors did not lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy - and that time he became the first in NBA history to win the unanimous vote.

2016: Fernando own goal sets up all-Madrid final

It was not pretty but on May 4, 2016, 10-time European Cup winners Real Madrid made another final.

Only one goal separated Los Blancos from Manchester City across 180 minutes, and it came via a degree of fortune - Fernando deflecting Gareth Bale's cross into his own net.

That was enough to see them advance to another final against cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid, with Zinedine Zidane's men going on to win their first of three successive finals in the competition via a penalty shoot-out at San Siro.

 

2019: Canelo seals points win over Jacobs

On Cinco de Mayo weekend, Mexican Alvarez out-pointed Daniel Jacobs to add the IBF middleweight belt to his WBC and WBA titles.

All three judges scored the fight in the Alvarez's favour on his return to the 160lb division, the 28-year-old having briefly stepped up to obliterate Rocky Fielding and take the Liverpudlian's WBA super-middleweight belt.

Alvarez moved to light heavyweight six months later, knocking out Sergey Kovalev in the 11th round to become a four-weight world champion.