Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez has only lost twice in his 66-fight career. The Mexican superstar recently opened up about those rare defeats to Floyd Mayweather and Dmitry Bivol.
Canelo, now 34, has built an impressive 64-2-2 record across multiple weight divisions. He's currently the unified champion at 168 pounds, having beaten top names like Gennady Golovkin, Billy Joe Saunders, Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan, and Shane Mosley.
His first loss came in 2013 against Floyd Mayweather. At just 23 years old, Canelo faced the 36-year-old Mayweather at a catchweight of 152 pounds for the super-welterweight championship. Mayweather won by majority decision, with scorecards of 117-111, 116-112, and 114-114, though many felt these didn't fully reflect Mayweather's dominance.
Canelo's second loss didn't come until 2022 when he moved up to light-heavyweight to challenge Dmitry Bivol. This was Canelo's second attempt at 175 pounds after previously beating Sergey Kovalev. Bivol won by unanimous decision.
In a recent interview with Fight Hub TV, Canelo compared the difficulty of these two fights:
"I think both are similar, just Bivol is bigger so I think Bivol."
However, when asked which loss bothered him more, Canelo had a different take. Speaking to Cigar Talk, he said:
"The Bivol fight bothers me more because I think I'm not 100% in that fight. I should stop it and take more time. At the end of the day everything happens for a reason. I learned a lesson that way and that's it."
Since the Bivol loss, Canelo has returned to super-middleweight where he remains the unified champion. A potential rematch with Bivol is on hold for now, as the Russian boxer is set to face Artur Beterbiev on February 22, 2024, in a rematch for the undisputed light-heavyweight title.
Mayweather, who retired in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 record, remains the only other man to beat Canelo in the pro ranks. As Canelo continues his career, these two losses stand out as rare blemishes on an otherwise stellar record.
