Canelo Alvarez recently suffered the third defeat of his career at the hands of Terence Crawford, leaving him without a championship belt for the first time in seven years.
Crawford moved up two divisions to challenge for Canelo’s undisputed super-middleweight title, putting on a fine display to win a unanimous decision and join Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol as the only men to beat him.
At 35-years-old and with 68 fights under his belt, some speculated that Canelo may retire from the sport, particularly as there is a general feeling he is now some way past his formidable best. Despite that he will fight on, but not as quickly as was initially planned.
Speaking on Inside the Ring, the Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger revealed that Alvarez is set to undergo elbow surgery that will put him out until at least April of next year.
“I’m told that he’s going to have elbow surgery. He was set to return in February in Riyadh for the third fight of that deal. That fight is now going to be delayed until Q2, Q3 of 2026. Canelo’s going to have the surgery and then he’ll comeback.”
Who Canelo will face remains to be seen, with the options including a Crawford rematch – though how interested the American will be is unclear – or a move up in weight to face David Benavidez. A rebuilding fight seems unlikely at this stage of the Mexican icon’s campaign.
