LAS VEGAS — A few years in the past, whereas overlaying Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez’s return to Guadalajara, I visited the health club the place he started a superb two-decade profession that made him the undisputed tremendous middleweight champion and champion in 4 totally different divisions.
There, Chepo Reynoso, the coach who took him in at age 14, spoke to me in regards to the inevitable expiration date of a boxer after I requested him how for much longer we’d have Álvarez as an expert fighter.
Reynoso jogged my memory that Álvarez has been boxing since he was a baby and that he was already an expert at 15. Due to his self-discipline and competitiveness, Álvarez turned a a number of world champion and the Mexican athlete who has earned more cash than every other boxer from his nation. However all that effort finally takes its toll.
“When he sees that his body is no longer responding, even though he works hard and takes care of himself, it will be time to say goodbye. Your body tells you, ‘Stop, I can’t do this anymore,’” Reynoso, now 72, advised me. He accompanied Álvarez in his painful loss to Terence Crawford Saturday in Las Vegas.
Throughout the identical journey, I visited Rigoberto Álvarez, Canelo’s older brother, who additionally jogged my memory that his youthful brother had been preventing his complete life and turned skilled at 15 as a result of he was already a father and needed to help his daughter. Rigoberto then recounted a dialog he had with Canelo in 2023: “He told me himself that he saw himself fighting for a couple more years, but he didn’t want to retire due to wear and tear. He wanted time for his children and his family,” Rigoberto mentioned in 2023.
On Saturday in Las Vegas, the indicators these in Álvarez’s nook warned about got here to fruition. Towards Crawford, Álvarez misplaced all his tremendous middleweight titles in a combat through which he was vastly outclassed.
This time, he left accompanied by his spouse, daughter and coach Eddy Reynoso. But it surely was additionally placing that he left with the serenity of somebody who has made peace with the passage of time.
Terence Crawford lands a punch and Canelo Álvarez leans backward within the eighth spherical of their undisputed tremendous middleweight title combat at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday.
(Harry How / Getty Photos for Netflix)
Through the previous few years, Canelo has been the face of boxing: He was thought-about the most effective pound-for-pound fighter after his victory over Gennady Golovkin of their second combat in 2022, the star of million-dollar fights and the undisputed king of pay-per-view. However on Saturday, he appeared like a drained, previous cowboy — sluggish and unimaginative, with worn-out reflexes and a physique that now not responds.
“There are times when you try, but your body says it can’t,” Álvarez mentioned in English. “I tried to figure Crawford out, but my body wasn’t giving it anymore.”
He accepted the defeat calmly. Whereas Crawford, at 37, gave him a boxing lesson in a packed Allegiant Stadium, Alvarez appeared resigned to his destiny.
The loss reopens previous criticism in regards to the legitimacy of Álvarez’s victories and high quality of his opponents. Not even the greater than $100 million he reportedly earned Saturday evening will erase the sensation {that a} cycle has come to an finish.
His rapid future is unclear. He has a contract signed with Arab promoter Turki Alalshikh to combat twice in 2026. Álvarez had beforehand spoken of a tour of Europe and Asia, however with out his belts, he’ll now not be the identical world attraction.
Engaging rivals are additionally few and much between. David Benavidez awaits him at 175 kilos, though Canelo has all the time thought-about him too large bodily for him. And if the trail results in exhibitions with fighters similar to Jake Paul or Conor McGregor, bodily put on and tear and lack of necessity may steer him away.
Right now, Álvarez speaks extra about his household, particularly spending time along with his new child daughter.
“I’ve already won because I have my family with me and millions of fans who have never stopped supporting me,” he wrote on Instagram on Sunday after the loss.
The person who was as soon as unstoppable is resting. His legacy, with a assured place within the Boxing Corridor of Fame, is already written. What appears to have ended is Álvarez’s period as a dominant champion, as a result of in boxing, past glory and cash, the last word opponent is all the time time.
This text first appeared in Spanish through L.A. Occasions en Español.
