Canelo says he identified mistakes from the Crawford loss while preparing for a physically demanding fight against Christian Mbilli
Canelo Alvarez is already discussing changes he would make in a Terence Crawford rematch despite a difficult fight against Christian Mbilli still waiting later this year. The Mexican star admitted he made major mistakes against Crawford while insisting the outcome would be different in a second fight.
“You always learn something from everything. So it was a good experience, and I enjoyed it a lot,” said Canelo to InsideRingShow when asked if he looks back fondly on the Crawford fight despite losing.
“Yeah [he watched the fight back]. A lot of things.
“Just sometimes your body doesn’t respond the way you want, but I know what was my mistakes. And I can adapt everything to make everything perfect for the next. You know, we just think it, right? If we can get that fight back, it’ll be amazing.”
Canelo also admitted he approached the fight the wrong way stylistically.
“I see a lot of mistakes I made. I tried to be faster for his style and everything. Now, I just need to do my job, and that’s it,” said Canelo about his performance against Crawford.
The comments are interesting because many fans viewed the Crawford loss differently. Crawford’s jab controlled large portions of the fight, disrupted Canelo’s positioning, and gradually took over once the pace slowed in the second half. Canelo still landed isolated power shots, but he struggled to maintain sustained pressure after the middle rounds.
That creates questions heading into the Mbilli fight.
Mbilli is a completely different kind of problem than Crawford. Crawford outboxes opponents and controls them technically. Mbilli breaks fighters down physically with pressure, volume, and constant exchanges. He fights at a pace that forces opponents into exhausting rounds, and that style has already led many fans to compare the matchup to the first two fights between Canelo and Gennadiy Golovkin.
If Canelo defeats Mbilli in an entertaining fight, demand for a rematch would likely be immediate because of the action style both fighters bring. But if Mbilli overwhelms him physically, the Crawford rematch talk could disappear quickly. A damaging loss against a younger pressure fighter would create a different conversation around Canelo’s career than losing a tactical fight against Crawford.
Canelo acknowledged his frustration over not getting another shot at Crawford, but said he is staying patient.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating, but like I always say, when you cannot control the situation, you can’t do anything,” said Canelo about his inability to control if a rematch with Crawford ever happens.
“So, I’m going to stay calm, do my job, and I’m still going to be doing my fights in my career. If the fight can happen again, it’s going to be different.”
Canelo speaks on his fight with Bud Crawford and wants a REMATCH ‼️
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