Alvarez, now 35, lost his most recent fight to Terence Crawford on September 13, 2025. The loss mattered less than how Alvarez looked. He fought with little urgency and struggled to apply pressure against an opponent who did not force much action.
Crawford retired and vacated his titles shortly after the fight, leaving the division without a settled leader.
That performance, against a 38-year-old Crawford, reinforced concerns that Alvarez has lost a step due to age and mileage. It followed similar outings against Edgar Berlanga and Jaime Munguia, where Alvarez controlled moments but rarely imposed himself for long stretches.
From 2021 through 2025, Alvarez benefited from favorable timing and selective matchmaking while holding titles at super middleweight. Repeating that formula now looks far more difficult. The division is deeper, younger, and less forgiving, with fewer controllable paths.
If Alvarez chooses to pursue another title, the most realistic target would be the winner of Hamzah Sheeraz vs Diego Pacheco for the WBO belt. Both are beatable on paper, even for an aging Alvarez.
Other potential routes include Jose Armando Resendiz (WBA), Christian Mbilli (WBC), and Osleys Iglesias (IBF). Mbilli and Iglesias are widely expected to win full titles, with Iglesias already struggling to find opponents willing to face him. Alvarez is among those who declined an IBF-ordered opportunity to fight Iglesias.
That is where the picture grows murky for the Mexican star. A high-volume pressure fighter like Mbilli presents a stylistic problem Alvarez no longer appears physically equipped to handle. If Alvarez struggled to deal with Crawford’s limited output, a sustained attack from Mbilli would place far heavier demands on him. At any point in his career, that level of volume would have posed problems.
The training clip shows Alvarez still working. It does not answer whether he can still absorb, respond, and sustain what today’s super middleweight contenders would bring. The current field represents a clear step up from the challengers Alvarez faced while holding undisputed status from 2021 to 2025.
The only clear exceptions from that period were David Benavidez and David Morrell. Both would still stand out at 168 today. For reasons never fully understood, Alvarez chose not to face either while he held the belts.
