The crushing defeat to Terence ‘Bud’ Crawford on September 14 at the Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas has taken a second toll on Saul Canelo Alvarez in the form of injury. According to the always well-informed Mike Coppinger of The Ring, the Mexican underwent surgery to have an operation on an elbow due to pain he had been suffering for weeks in that joint.Canelo signed a four-fight contract with Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season, which included two fights in Riyadh during 2025, but in the end he only fought one against CubanWilliam Scull. For that reason, he was due to step into the ring again in February 2026, which is now impossible after the elbow surgery was revealed.
The 35-year-old former world super middleweight champion, who will celebrate 20 years as a professional on October 29, underwent surgery in San Diego and will not fight again until the second quarter of next year.
Canelo Alvarez will take at least eight weeks to recover but will not be able to train normally until four weeks later, so it is very unlikely that he will be able to step into a ring before May 2026.
This is the third surgery the first undisputed super middleweight champion in recent boxing history has undergone. The first was when he had surgery on his right knee in 2018 and the second was when he underwent a procedure on his left wrist in 2022.
There is no official roadmap for Canelo’s future, but there is talk of a possible rematch against Crawford, a fight in England against Chris Eubank Jr. and possible fights against Hamzah Sheeraz and Christian Mbilli in the Super Middleweight category.
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