By Dan Ambrose: Canelo Alvarez says his left-hand injury kept him from being 100% for his fight against Dmitry Bivol last year and his other battles for the last couple of years.
What some feel is annoying is that Canelo didn’t disclose his injury until after his loss to Bivol, which gives the impression that he’s formulated an excuse to escape the recoil from boxing fans over his defeat.
Bivol was bothered by the way Canelo used his hand and the fact that he fought him at 175 as an excuse to escape criticism from people after his loss. Like a soldier, Canelo should have stayed quiet and accepted his defeat without complaint.
It would have been better if Canelo revealed having a hand injury before the contest instead of afterward because it would sound more believable and less like an excuse from a fighter that can’t accept that he wasn’t good enough to win.
The former four-division world champion Canelo points out that even with just one healthy hand, he won the first five rounds against WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) last May. He feels that if he’d been 100% healthy with two hands, he would have surely beaten Bivol because he sees himself as a better fighter than him.
Canelo has now had hand surgery to repair his injury and says he’s healthy for tonight’s title defense of his undisputed super middleweight championship against John Ryder at the Estadia Akron in Guadalupe, Mexico.
Alvarez plans on fighting a rematch with Bivol in September at 175, but if that’s the case, he needs to ensure the boxing public that he’s not secretly hiding an injury.
Canelo’s fans will buy his hidden hand injury this time, but if he pulls that card a second time with some kind of physical ailment, his loyal followers won’t be as accepting of his excuse the second time around.
“It affected everything because it’s boxing, and I need my hands, but I have the skills to handle with one hand, but at the end of this past year, I barely could train 100%. That made me not go 100% in the fight,” said Canelo to DAZN Boxing about his fight against Bivol.
“I’m the best fighter out there. I lost to one of the best fingers at 175, and I am trying to make history, to do everything differently from other fighters, to go up and down weight classes.
“I like challenges, and I feel my best. I feel good and in my prime, and you’re going to see,” said Canelo.
https://youtu.be/KceQrU2v7sI?t=67