Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, 33-years-old, has no intention of retiring in the near future.
He expects at least four or five more years in the sport – despite the growing concerns that he might have passed his peaking point as a fighter.
“I think I at least have four more years in me, maybe five,” said Canelo to The Breakfast Club.
“I’ve been a professional boxer since I was 15 years of age. That is almost 18 years of fighting professionally. I always said I would retire when I was 36 or 37, around that age….. that should be more than enough, it’s so many years of boxing. By then, I will have accomplished many things, and then I will have to enjoy life with the family and all.”
On Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Canelo will defend the undisputed super middleweight crown against Jermell Charlo.
Charlo, who is currently the undisputed world champion at 154-pounds, will head up by two full weight divisions to face Canelo.
When the fight was first announced, it caught the boxing world off-guard, because Canelo was initially slated to face Jermell’s twin brother, WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo. A quick change was necessary when Jermall indicated that he wouldn’t be ready in time for the scheduled date.
While Jermell is the physically smaller brother, he is widely regarded as the better fighter of the two.
Canelo does not believe the extra weight will affect Charlo.
“When you have that time and that kind of body that Jermell Charlo has, you can do it. You can handle that [that extra weight] because he’s big, he’s a big guy. And when you have the skills, you can do it,” Canelo told The Sun.
“You feel confident [when you are undisputed]. You feel confident because you’ve beaten everybody in your weight class and you feel confident. I think it’s a really good accomplishment because when you’re confident in the ring, it’s one of the best things. I think that’s one of the most important things in boxing, when you feel that confidence in your mind it’s something amazing.”