Canelo Alvarez has ruled in four weight divisions but has suffered three defeats as a professional, and now the Mexican superstar has admitted that he ‘wasn’t mentally there’ for one of his losses.
Alvarez debuted as a 15-year-old in Mexico and remained undefeated in his first 43 professional bouts, with an early draw being the only blemish on his record up until his 2013 clash with Floyd Mayweather – where he lost a majority decision.
Nine years later, after achieving success in a fourth weight-class, Canelo attempted to reclaim light-heavyweight honours, but he came up short against Dmitry Bivol in a well-aged defeat, with Bivol since going on to become the undisputed 175lb champion.
Last September, after stringing together six consecutive unanimous decision wins following his Bivol loss, Canelo then lost in his natural super-middleweight division, trumped by Terence Crawford who had moved up two weight divisions for the opportunity.
Speaking to CBS, Canelo admitted that he learnt a lot from that fight, mainly that he needs to be better prepared, ‘mentally’, when he next steps through the ropes.
“You cannot change anything and you cannot control the result. Even when you do everything good, some things don’t go in your way, I learned that, so imagine if you do things bad.
“Even if I did everything correct, things sometimes don’t go your way. I learned that, sometimes we forget the basics and I forgot the basics in that fight, it happens.
“You don’t know, you think that you are doing everything right, but you don’t know that you are forgetting the basics. Mentally, I was not there. I did everything correct in the gym, I did everything correct in the training camp, but mentally, I was not there.
“I learned that, if I am going to stay fighting, I need to be there, mentally.”
Continuing, Canelo went on to once again state his desire for a rematch with Crawford, despite ‘Bud’ having retired from the sport just three months after that career-defining triumph, when he dethroned Alvarez..
“As a fighter, we always want revenge and he is a great fighter. Yeah, [I believe that I can beat him], I always believe in what I can do.”
Whilst a Crawford return seems unlikely, Canelo is set to challenge for the WBC super-middleweight world title in just under three months’ time, as he collides with Christian Mbilli in Riyadh, on Saturday, October 31.
