Alvarez says legs felt tired and weight cut did not recover ahead of 12-round defeat
Canelo Alvarez said his body did not respond as expected in his loss to Terence Crawford. He cited tired legs and weight issues while crediting Crawford’s strategy.
Crawford beat Canelo by a 12-round decision in September 2025 to end Alvarez’s run at 168 as the undisputed champion. Many expected size to be the issue for Crawford moving up two divisions from 154, but his movement and jabs were enough.
“A lot of things went wrong. My body didn’t respond the way I really wanted, because I wanted to be faster, and this and that,” said Canelo to the Mr. Verzace podcast, explaining what went wrong against Crawford. “Then I didn’t recuperate my weight like I needed to. My legs felt a little bit tired, too. But he deserved all the credit. He made a better strategy than me.”
The “body failed me” defense feels a lot like a convenient narrative to protect the brand after running into a truly elite talent. When you look at the trajectory since 2022, the pattern is a level-of-competition reality check, not just physical decline,
We’ve seen this version of Saul for a while now. He hasn’t suddenly changed. The opposition just stopped being hand-picked to hide the flaws.
Bivol showed that high-volume, disciplined movement and a stiff jab neutralize Canelo’s power-loading. Crawford essentially took that blueprint and refined it with a smaller frame but faster hands.
Fights against Munguia, Berlanga, and Scull were essentially target practice. Those guys stood in front of him or lacked the ring IQ to punish his low work rate. He looked “good” because they let him dictate the pace.
“He told me everything, and I tried, but my body didn’t respond. I had cramps in my legs,” Canelo said about his trainer, Eddy Reynoso. “We learn from that and move forward. I know what mistakes I made in the fight and in the camp, too.”
If these issues were truly happening in camp, the smart move would have been to postpone. Instead, mentioning them now serves as a convenient safety net for the legacy.
Bringing Eddy Reynoso into the excuse makes it sound like a valiant effort story. By saying Reynoso “told him everything,” but the body wouldn’t listen, it protects the trainer’s reputation while making Canelo look like a warrior who fought through physical betrayal.
Alvarez’s admission that his body wouldn’t respond is a massive red flag. When a fighter of Canelo’s caliber admits the linkage” is broken, that the brain sends the signal but the muscles don’t fire, you’re looking at the end of an elite physical prime, not just a bad camp.
This admission is far more damaging than just saying he had a bad night because it suggests a permanent loss of athleticism.
Canelo’s September 12, 2026, return in Riyadh is designed to give him a path back to a belt, but the level of the opponent will tell the whole story. As of now, the “champion only” rule he’s insisting on narrows it down to a few very different paths: Jaime Munguia vs. Jose Armando Resendiz winner, Christian Mbilli or Hamzah Sheeraz vs. Alem Begic winner.
By launching his own promotion for this event, Canelo is basically the matchmaker, the promoter, and the star. In that scenario, he has every incentive to pick a name” champion who is stylistically tailor-made for him to look explosive.
If he signs to fight a rematch against Munguia, he’s just looking for a highlight reel to erase the memory of Crawford. But if he actually steps in with Mbilli, he’s putting his bad camp theory to the ultimate stress test.
