Roberto Duran endured humiliation at the hands of Sugar Ray Leonard in their 1980 rematch and has now warned Canelo Alvarez what he must do to avoid a similar fate in a potential second fight with Terence Crawford.
Durán’s legendary win over Leonard in June 1980 was overturned five months later when the Panamanian quit at the end of the eighth round in the first defence of his WBC welterweight title.
While the infamous “No Más” fight tarnished his reputation, Durán’s broader career was littered with success before and after, securing his place among boxing’s all-time greats.
Canelo is two months removed from the third defeat of his career, having been convincingly beaten by Crawford in September. The loss ended his reign as undisputed super-middleweight champion, but he is targeting a rematch with the American in 2026. Crawford’s commanding performance exposed flaws in Canelo’s game at a stage when his best years may be behind him.
Durán, however, has identified the reasons he believes Canelo fell short and offered words of advice for a return bout in a video published by Izquierdazobox.
“Well, honestly, I saw him doing poorly. I saw him doing poorly because I thought Canelo was going to use more intelligence in his boxing. But it seems that when they boxed him, he didn’t know what to do. So he still needs more.
“What he should do now is spar with bigger gloves, so he can learn more about how to get in, how to get out, how to punch, and how to cut off the ring. That’s what he was missing, because in my opinion his trainer didn’t teach him anything.”
Canelo’s defeat to Crawford came three years after an unsuccessful move to light-heavyweight, where he was outpointed by WBA champion Dmitry Bivol. Nine years earlier, the Mexican suffered his first career loss at the hands of Floyd Mayweather, who defended his unified super-welterweight titles with a points win.
