The fire still burns for Canelo Alvarez to compete after 20 years in professional boxing.
On October 29, 2005, Canelo made his maiden appearance in the paid ranks with a fourth-round stoppage victory over Abraham Gonzalez in Tonala, Mexico.
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Canelo has been boxing professionally for 20 yearsCredit: GETTY
The fresh-faced Guadaljara puncher was just 15 years old at the time.
Two decades later, Canelo is one of the biggest stars in boxing today.
During a remarkable rise that has seen him scoop belts in four separate weight classes, including undisputed supremacy at super middleweight, Canelo is estimated to have pocketed just shy of $800m.
His 2013 clash with Floyd Mayweather garnered 2.2m pay-per-view buys, while his most recent outing against Terence Crawford in September was viewed by 41.4m households on Netflix.
A convincing unanimous defeat to the latter has, however, called his future into question.
Now 35 years old and showing signs of decline, several members of the boxing fraternity have speculated that Canelo’s bout with Crawford may be his last.
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That chatter was put to bed on Wednesday when Canelo took to Instagram to write: “Twenty years in, I still feel the same fire I had when I first stepped into the ring.
“Every victory and every challenge has made me who I am today.
“I’m deeply grateful to my family, fans, and to Mexico – you’ve been my strength and my inspiration since day one.”
Canelo still has two fights left on his money-spinning deal with Riyadh Season.
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Canelo is coming off a wide points loss to Crawford in SeptemberCredit: Getty
In the aftermath of Canelo’s most recent setback, Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh made it clear that they would honour the agreement if he chose to continue competing.
“I just visited the champ in his place,” Alalshikh tweeted.
“He will soon start his vacation with his family.
“He has 2 fights left with [Riyadh Season] in 2026. We offered him to work with us until he quits and retired.
“I want [to] give a special thank you to [Canelo Alvarez] for the special gift.
“He gave me the gloves of the fight, and I appreciate it very much.”
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Alalshikh had planned to book Canelo against Hamzah Sheeraz on the first Saudi card of 2026.
However, an injury to the Mexican’s elbow has delayed his next outing until the third or fourth quarter of next year.
Chris Eubank Jr has also been floated around as a potential dance partner for Canelo over the last 12 months.
He will have to defeat Conor Benn for a second time on November 15 if he hopes to land the opportunity.