Coach Ronnie Shields says he wants to see Canelo Alvarez retire following his loss to Terence Crawford. He saw enough of Canelo’s poor effort in his 12-round unanimous decision defeat against Crawford on September 13th that he believes “It’s over” for the 35-year-old Mexican star.
No Trainer Can Save Alvarez Now
“When it’s over, it’s over. Right now, I don’t feel he should fight anymore. You can’t beat Father Time. No trainer is going to make him anything other than he already is,” said trainer Ronnie Shields to Fight Hub TV, recommending that Canelo Alvarez retire.
Shields says it won’t help for Canelo to fire his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, and find someone else to coach him. Promoter Oscar De La Hoya said in an interview this week that Alvarez can rejuvenate his career if he parts ways with Reynoso and replaces him with a different coach, like Shields.
Body Breaking Down, Shields Warns
“His body is telling him, ‘Let’s go.’ Crawford has less wars. He has less miles on the road, and less fights. In boxing, Canelo is older,” said Shields.
What Shields is saying mirrors what many people have been commenting on since Canelo’s defeat against Crawford on September 13. Alvarez has shown signs of deterioration since his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Dmitry Bivol on May 7, 2022.
The Mexican star hasn’t looked good in his seven fights since. He’s not knocked out anyone and has shown conditioning issues. He’s been able to keep winning because he’s fought lower-tier fighters that he could still beat. Even with his natural size advantage against Crawford, it wasn’t enough.
Crawford Also Urged Toward Retirement
It’s not just Canelo that Ronnie is recommending retirement for. He’s advising Terence Crawford to hang up his gloves as well after one more fight. He said he’s in favor of him moving down to 160 and capturing a belt. But after that, he’d like to see him retire.
Shields states that Crawford should vacate his four super middleweight titles rather than defending. He says the top super middleweight contenders are “too young, too strong and too fast” for the 38-year-old Terence.
He could be right. For Crawford to fight a powerful volume puncher like Christian Mbilli would be a disaster because he wouldn’t make him hesitate to attack like he did with Canelo, and he couldn’t run his way to another victory. He’d have to actually fight Mbilli and that wouldn’t be good. He had his hands full just trying to deal with Canelo’s punches, which is why he did so much moving.