Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez has suffered defeat just twice in a 66-fight professional campaign.
The first time Alvarez came up short was against Floyd Mayweather in 2013. He would go on a nine year winning streak thereafter before an ambitious second move up to light-heavyweight against Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo has long been keen on avenging the loss, especially since he says he did not perform his best. In a recent interview with La Casaca Boxing Club, sparring partner and former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk has now provided more details on why.
“I was surprised [about the result] yes and no. I was helping Canelo. I think he’s a very talented fighter. First of all, he had a problem in camp. He had an injury, he had to skip a couple weeks like a month before the fight. It [was] a good fight but Canelo wasn’t really 100%. That’s my opinion. Bivol obviously did a great job and what happened happened.”
Canelo would undergo surgery on his wrist after his next fight – a win against Gennady Golovkin in their third meeting – after having niggling issues with the injury for years prior. He later told DAZN that it had impacted many training camps.
“I’m motivated because now I’m able to train 100% and that makes me feel confident and motivates myself … Like two years, three years [it was injured] but as a fighter, like, ‘One more fight, one more fight!’ but it is what it is. I’m happy to be able to train 100%.
“I think it affected everything because it’s boxing and I need my hands, but I have the skills to handle with one hand but at the end of the day, at the end of this past year I barely was able to train 100%. That made me not go 100% in the fight.”
Canelo’s hopes of a rematch with Bivol are on ice just now due to the Russian’s recent loss to Artur Beterbiev in his undisputed light-heavyweight championship tilt and the strong possibility of an immediate rematch.
The Mexican will return to the ring in May 2025 with an opponent yet to be announced.
