“Canelo is getting a bit older, and he’s carrying a lot of injuries. I think he’s war torn,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the media about whether Canelo Alvarez’s elbow injury had an impact on his performance in his defeat against Terence Crawford.
Alvarez has been fighting twice a year for the last five years since 2021, and it’s taken a lot out of him. He’s had a lot of hard fights against top fighters from 154 to 175.
Canelo fought with an injured elbow during the fight with Terence. Even with the injury, it was a close fight. Crawford won by a 12-round unanimous decision by a narrow margin. It wasn’t the one-sided fight that some fans have claimed afterward.
The former four-division world champion Canelo has already stated that he wants a rematch with Crawford to avenge his loss from last September. Hearn views that as pride on Alvarez’s part. It’s difficult for him to take a loss without trying to avenge it.
“Ultimately, he’s not going to be physically what he once was. He’s the ultimate competitor and will always want to run it back. He never really wanted to fight Crawford because he knows the style is not good for him at this age,” said Hearn about Canelo.
Understandably, Canelo wants to fight a rematch with Crawford, because that’s the kind of defeat that is impossible to walk away from. Also, it wasn’t a mismatch. He was in it up to the end, but gassed out late.
“He didn’t like the Crawford fight, but the money was too good to turn down. That style is not easy for him at this stage of his career,” said Hearn.
The $100+ million purse that Canelo received from Turki Alalshikh was too good for him to turn down for the Crawford fight.
