Canelo had ‘very strange feeling’ on ring walk for Terence Crawford fight: “It just happened”

Canelo Alvarez lost as a super-middleweight for the first time in his career when he was trumped by Terence Crawford last September, and the Mexican superstar has opened up on the ‘strange’ pre-fight feeling that he had when heading into that fight.

Until that night, Canelo had been the only fighter in history to have claimed the undisputed super-middleweight world title – and he had done it twice.

His second reign came to an end when Crawford proved that he belongs amongst the greats as he dramatically jumped up in weight and dethroned Canelo, who was outboxed down the stretch in a clash that will live long in the memory.

Speaking to Ariel Helwani, Canelo admitted that he had no issues in camp, but declared that his mind was not focussed when heading into the showdown against ‘Bud’

“I did everything good in the training camp, but my mind wasn’t there. I don’t know why but I feel like it wasn’t there.

“I was thinking about other things, a lot of things were happening in the fight week, sometimes we are going out of basics. Focus on the fight, focus on boxing.

“Like I say, I did everything good in the camp, I always train very hard, but it’s not just that. You can be physically ready, but if your mind is not there it is not the same.”

Continuing, the 67-fight veteran went on to state that he felt like he wasn’t there whilst making his ring walk, but maintained that he is not making excuses and that he needs to move on from the defeat. 

“I just cannot tell you how that happened, it just happened and I need to learn about what happened. I don’t want to victimise myself, it has already happened, I need to move forward, right? I just need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. 

“[The feelings] were there [on the ring walk]. I wasn’t doubting myself but I felt like I wasn’t there, it is a very strange feeling, but I know what I don’t need to do again.”

Canelo will challenge for the WBC super-middleweight world title against Christian Mbilli in on Saturday, October 31, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as he looks to regain world honours at the first attempt.