Canelo Alvarez's career: Time to retire?

Once hailed as boxing's best pound-for-pound fighter, Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has shown signs of decline in recent performances, notably a unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford in September 2025. This defeat followed a pattern of vulnerability, including earlier losses to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022 and a less decisive win against John Ryder in May 2023.

Despite a storied career spanning four weight classes and fights against boxing legends, concerns about Alvarez's long-term health have surfaced. He recently underwent comprehensive health and brain scans at a specialized clinic in Switzerland. The results, disclosed by Alvarez, indicated no signs of trauma, chronic inflammation, or brain damage, with his biological age reportedly assessed as 26.

Alvarez is slated to return to the ring on September 12 in Saudi Arabia to face undefeated WBC super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli. This bout, occurring after his 36th birthday, will be his first since the Crawford fight, as he seeks to prove he can still compete at the highest level despite the risks associated with a prolonged career of taking punches.