CANELO ALVAREZ has opened up on the brutal pain of fighting with an injured hand – but he vowed to return to greatness.
The Mexican has been plagued with a problem in his left hand since late 2021 when he became undisputed super-middleweight champion.
Still he fought on in 2022 to suffer defeat at light-heavyweight to Dmitry Bivol, 32, and then later victory over Gennady Golovkin, 41.
It was only after victory in his trilogy bout with GGG that Canelo finally went under the knife.
Although when he returned against John Ryder, 34, in May, the boxing superstar insisted he was still in recovery.
And he had to excruciatingly box on with the busted hand in training and fight night in his last two bouts.
READ MORE IN BOXING
Canelo, 33, told SunSport: “I was not able to train 100 per cent with my hand and do everything in the gym. It was bad pain. It is what it is.
“Now it makes me happy because I’m able to train 100 per cent and that makes me confident.
“In my last fight, I was still in rehab so I don’t have that confidence to go big in the fight because I’m still in rehab and that’s something I like today.
“Now, I’m able to train 100 per cent and that makes me confident.”
Most read in Boxing
FREE BETS – BEST BETTING OFFERS AND BONUSES NEW CUSTOMERS
Despite one-sided points wins over Golovkin and Ryder, still Canelo maintained it was far from his brilliant best.
But after fully recovering from his hand woes, he is ready to let his hands do the talking.
Canelo said: “I know why. That’s the most important thing, I know why I wasn’t able to go deep and 100 per cent in my last two fights.
“I was in pain in my hand and I wasn’t able to train 100 per cent but right now, I feel great.
“And I don’t want to say, ‘This is going to be different.’ You will see in the fight.”
Canelo will put his fixed fist to the test on Saturday night in a historic undisputed title fight on Showtime PPV.
Light-middleweight ruler Jermell Charlo, 33, will jump TWO divisions to challenge for Canelo’s 168lb crown.
And it marks the first time two current undisputed champions have ever shared the ring.
It gives Canelo the chance to make another piece of history at the same time as forcing Charlo to pay for his previous trash talk.
He said: “I love boxing. I love boxing and I love these kind of fights.
“And it motivates me more and more because he (Charlo) never believed in my skills, he’s always calling me out, always talking s*** about me.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“He never believed in my skills and right now, I’m able to show him my skills and why I’m here. That motivates me.
“And I love boxing. I love being in training camp, I love training so my routine is something I enjoy a lot.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
