Canelo isn't past his best

If you are getting hit a hell of a lot easier in your last 3 fights, that is a worrying sign. Even a finished GGG gave Canelo issues in the last few rounds of their final fight.

As you saw with Riddick Bowe, it takes 1-2 final fights for brutal brain damage.

 

Fair points, and it's only natural for him to start slowing down fight after fight as he gets into his mid-30s. But I don't think we're gonna see a dramatic drop off in speed or anything else. I don't think Canelo is going to get old overnight.

We always hear that timing beats speed. And this is true in Canelo's case. Canelo has never had the fastest hands, or the fastest feet, even at his peak. Amir Khan had way faster hands than Canelo back in 2016. Was that prime Canelo? Or was Canelo still pre-prime when he fought Khan?

When you think of Prime Canelo, that's hard to pinpoint. I think if we're honest Canelo has had a very long prime. Maybe he was prime against Daniel Jacobs, certainly in terms of speed and head movement. When he made Jacobs miss all those jabs with upper body movement, we didn't see any of that against Ryder, but it was also a completely different fight in a much smaller ring. At the same time, against Jacobs, for example, Canelo didn't really showcase the kind of power in that fight that we've seen in recent years. When Canelo was at Middleweight in 2016-2018, his speed and all around boxing skill was at an all-time high, but how did his power compare then to now? I don't think he was as powerful then than he is now. And he wasn't as experienced. Lets face it, he was still a work in progress when he fought GGG the first time. He was still experimenting with different styles and ways to fight in the gym. When he moved to up Super Middleweight, he naturally lost some speed, but he gained power and improved his ring presence and confidence level.

As you get older, you lose speed, but you have more experience. You know how to handle adversity better. Timing can get better as a fighter ages, stamina management can get better, maybe less upper body movement but better blocking. We seen it with Mayweather, he was P4P #1 and clearly the best fighter in the world in his mid to late 30s. Even with brittle hands, with no KO power, he wasn't as fast as he was in his prime, but he didn't slow down much, at least not really until Maidana 1 when the speed dropoff was noticeable. Unlike Mayweather, Canelo is the type of fighter who's strong as a bull and his body isn't going to break down overnight. Even as long of a pro as Canelo has been, his discipline in the gym is underappreciated by most fans which should allow him to fight into his mid 30s without much drop off.

He might not be as fast now as he was vs Daniel Jacobs, for example, I mean we're not seeing the footwork he showed in GGG 1 or against Jacobs. But the other side of that is he's becoming even more of a devastating KO artist. There's an argument that he's more dangerous as a puncher now than ever before. When he fought GGG 1, or against Jacobs, he was more about making you miss, landing flashy shots and putting on a show. Now it's more about managing his stamina, loading up on single shots and causing damage. So he's evolving as he gets older as fighters have to do when father time forces you to adapt and change. But I don't think it's evident that he's past his best, the story of Canelo's career is still being written, and he seems very capable of performing at a high level. The performance against Ryder was way better and more impressive than his last 2 fights. At the same time, Ryder was easier stylistically than Bivol or GGG. We know jabbers give Canelo trouble and the jab isn't really part of Ryder's repertoire. But you can't argue with the results, it's hard for anyone to deny how impressive that win over Ryder was. Many posters on here have been saying how underrated Ryder is. You look what he did to Zach Parker, for example, and then we see what happened against Canelo. You can critique certain elements of his game, and recognizing that he is getting older, but we just haven't seen a significant dropoff to say he's past his best.

 

Hmm? could be

 

Welcome back dude.

 

I agree with most of that.
- I think Canelo is a little past his best (John Ryder on Canelo Alvarez: "He was very good. I think he's probably past his best, but he still had enough in his tank tonight.") but we won't see a significant drop-off or anything for a few years at least (assuming he stays committed to boxing). Nowadays across almost all sports we are seeing that modern nutrition etc. keeps athletes in peak shape into their early-mid 30s (although fighting GGG 3x can't be very good for longevity).
- It's very hard what to say prime Canelo was, and he wasn't that far below it against Ryder. I agree that Ryder is a good fighter, but stylistically not the best vs Canelo, so all things considered I thought he was slightly below his best but good enough.
- That being said, I agree there was not a big drop-off, Canelo hasn't looked at his best for a while but he didn't need to against old man GGG or Ryder and got the job done in those fights, while Bivol is both very good and very difficult stylistically for Canelo - I don't think the best Canelo could beat Bivol, certainly not at 175lb. Personally, I'd love to see the Benavidev fight in September, I think Canelo would be super motivated and we might get a better idea of where he's at.
- On the last point, yes he's just as dangerous if not more, but like @Chuck Norris said in another thread I'm not sure this focus on power is all that good for Canelo. He was a bit predictable in his last few fights IMHO.

 

Others have covered it, he's a little past his peak, for sure, but not far.