{"id":555943,"date":"2026-04-29T00:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555943\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T00:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:05:07","slug":"canelo-reflects-on-the-reason-behind-depressing-floyd-mayweather-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/555943\/","title":{"rendered":"Canelo reflects on the reason behind ‘depressing’ Floyd Mayweather defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez suffered the first defeat of his career thirteen years ago, falling short against the great Floyd Mayweather.<\/p>\n

The pair clashed on September 14, 2013 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, in a fight billed as \u2018The One.\u2019 Mayweather entered as the unbeaten pound-for-pound number one and the sport\u2019s biggest draw, while Canelo, just 23 at the time, brought an undefeated record and unified super-welterweight titles. It was contested at a catchweight of 152lbs, and generated huge commercial interest as a clash between the established king and boxing\u2019s fastest rising star.<\/p>\n

Mayweather delivered a complete performance, using his trademark defence, footwork and timing to control the distance throughout and repeatedly beat Canelo to the punch with sharp counters and accurate combinations. Alvarez struggled to cut off the ring or land cleanly.<\/p>\n

The American won by majority decision<\/a> \u2013 judge C.J. Ross\u2019 draw being widely criticised \u2013 but the performance itself was clear-cut and reinforced his status as the best fighter in the world.<\/p>\n

Some feel it was shrewd matchmaking, with Mayweather adding a great name to his record before he reached his peak. Others disagree, believing Floyd would always have the beating of Alvarez.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Oso Trava<\/a>, Alvarez said that he believes that experience, not skill, was the defining factor that night in Las Vegas. The Mexican icon also revealed that suffering his first defeated \u2018hurt\u2019 him, but he was able to refocus by putting it into perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got extremely frustrated, right? Because I felt capable \u2013 I felt capable of beating the best in the world at 23 years old. And I was capable, I just didn\u2019t have the right experience, and I realised that afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurt me a lot because, however you want to call it, it hits your ego as a fighter \u2013 what you wanted to be, what you visualised that didn\u2019t happen. And yeah, it hurt a lot, it hit me really hard, and maybe I went through some level of depression. I don\u2019t know if there are levels of depression, but yeah, maybe I did.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, thinking alone at home \u2013 because I like having my time alone \u2013 thinking, I said, \u2018Alright, let me get myself together, ground myself, and think: I didn\u2019t lose to just anyone, I lost to the best in the world. I\u2019m 23 years old, and he practically didn\u2019t do anything to me.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI told myself that\u2019s not going to stop me from being the best in the world one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he lacked at 23 that he later gained, Canelo said confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence. I think confidence more than anything as a fighter = not mentally, because mentally I was fine \u2013 but confidence. More fights in those kinds of scenarios, because it\u2019s different. That would have helped me win.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2026, Canelo must bounce back from defeat once again. He is set to return to the ring in September for the first time since losing his undisputed super-middleweight titles to Terence Crawford.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Saul \u2018Canelo\u2019 Alvarez suffered the first defeat of his career thirteen years ago, falling short against the great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-555943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}