Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super middleweight champion who faces Jermell Charlo on pay-per-view on September 30th, found himself amidst a candid reflection on a regret that gnawed at him as of late. That decision came in May of 2022 in which he fought and lost to the WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
In a very honest interview with Hugo Sanchez, who is a former football player and has a talk show, Canelo openly admitted that losing to Bivol still bothers him. Canelo takes it a step further stating that he never should've competed on that evening.
"It hurt me a lot, it hurt me because I shouldn't have lost," said Canelo to Sanchez. "I'm simply a better fighter than him. I shouldn't have fought."
Canelo believes that a life of professional boxing now has consequences ones that he is seeing in his mid-30s, as he had physical setbacks, haunting him like a relentless ghost. Though Canelo fought Bivol he believes that he was not the fighter he should've been due to injuries.
"I wasn't 100 percent physically speaking, my hand wasn't working 100 percent, I couldn't train 100 percent," stated Canelo. "A week before I broke a rib training and still as a fighter you say, 'It's okay, it's okay when you feel you can do it all."
Despite the pain and the physical limitations, Canelo essentially speaks to the fighter's pride and his inability to believe that anything could go wrong. Another thought is that - maybe this is his way of rationalizing the loss that stung at him so deeply.
"I shouldn't have fought, I should have delayed that fight," said Canelo. "That chip in my shoulder is always there, it hasn't been taken out, it's still there."
The pain of the loss and the regret of that decision seems to not be going away. When something so personal continues to come up you can tell Canelo still feels the effects of the loss to Bivol, as he seemingly wants to right a past wrong via his next fight. Canelo is coming into his fight with Charlo saying all the things you want to hear a fighter say, yet was the lesson learned. Regardless it appears that Canelo Alvarez still wants to face Bivol at some point in the future given the way he talks about that fight.
