By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez showed off his surgically repaired left hand today on social media after the cast removal. The Mexican star had been fighting with the injury for a long period, and he finally decided to have the problem fixed following his victory over Gennadiy Golovkin last September.
With the injury impacting Canelo’s left hand, it leaves open a lot of questions of whether he’ll ever regain the power that he once had. His left hand has always been where he’s generated his punching power.
If Canelo can’t punch with the same authority as he once did with his left, he will be easy pickings for the 168-pounders and, of course, food for the light heavyweights.
Canelo’s promoter Eddie Hearn is hopeful that he can return to the ring by next May for his rematch against WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol.
Unfortunately, there’s the possibility that Canelo will choose to slowly rehabilitate his left hand and come back in September 2023. If that’s the case, it’s doubtful that he’ll choose to face Bivol (20-0, 11 KOs) because he’s not going to want to take such an important fight like that after a 12-month layoff.
If Canelo takes a tune-up in September against the likes of John Ryder or Zach Parker, his rematch with Bivol could get pushed into 2024. By that point, it would useless for Canelo to face Bivol again because the boxing public would have forgotten about the fight and won’t be interested.
Canelo will need to take it easy in training after this injury because the last thing he needs is to reinjure it and need another surgery.
Some fighters that suffer hand injuries are forced to throw with less power than before to avoid getting hurt again. With that said, it would be difficult for Canelo to transition his game from being a power puncher to that of a boxer at this stage in his career.
There are a lot of top fighters that can’t wait to share the ring with Canelo to beat him, and he’s going to need to be 100% for him to have a chance of winning. David Benavidez and Jermall Charlo are just two of many fighters that can’t wait to add Canelo’s scalp to their resumes.