Canelo Alvarez’s Hand Injury: What Happened?

After a seven-month hiatus, the undisputed Super Middleweight champion Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez returns to the ring to stave off a British threat. On May 6, he would be meeting the Englishman John Ryder to defend his titles. Incidentally, after a nearly decade gap, the match would occur in his hometown Guadalajara in Mexico.

Thus it remains to be seen how the year pans out for the Mexican Middleweight enigma returning after surgery on his left hand.

Canelo Alvarez’s hand injury: how did the Mexican icon break his hand?

After last year’s trilogy fight against archrival Gennady Golovkin in September, the world got to know the serious medical condition of his left hand. According to an article on ‘skysports.com,‘ Alvarez went into the fight with an injured hand. Reportedly, a torn cartilage on the left wrist gave him writhing pain. He said, “It hurts everywhere. I had these issues since the Caleb Plant fight. I was like; it’s okay, it’s okay, later, later, then it started [to get] really bad. I need surgery.”

Read More: “A Waste”: Canelo Alvarez shows No Mercy to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

It seems the issue began after the November 2021 fight against Caleb Plant. However, come May 7, the following year, he instead decided to scale up and take on the reigning world champion Dmitry Bivol. Nevertheless, the loss at T Mobile barely dented his resolve to fight the third match against Golovkin on September 17. The recent injury follows an earlier thumb fracture he suffered after knocking out Liam Smith at Arlington’s At & T Stadium on September 17, 2016.

But thankfully, it didn’t warrant surgery, and a six weeks’ rest and immobilization was deemed fit for recovery.

Fights Canelo Alvarez fought with the injury

There’s a reason why ‘Canelo’ is such a highly-rated boxer. Six months after he’d fractured his right thumb, he was back in the ring to win a long, drawn-out match against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on May 6, 2017. Even his injury on his left wrist after the Caleb Plant fight didn’t deter him. By May 7, 2022, he was back to stake a claim at a higher-weight division.

‘Canelo’ Alvarez met the Russian stone wall Dmitry Bivol at Nevada’s T Mobile Arena. The match lasted twelve rounds, with the Russian boxer declared a winner unanimously. Ever since, the Mexican has been clamoring for a rematch to avenge his second professional loss.

Four months later, Alvarez returned to the T Mobile arena. It was time to settle the protracted argument with Gennady Golovkin. Once again, the fight continued till the last bell, and the Mexican outboxed his Kazakh rival to win unanimously. According to an article published in ‘The Sun,’ by this time, the condition of his left hand had become so bad that he was finding it difficult even to hold a glass!

Is Canelo Alvarez recovered following the hand surgery? How is he doing now?

Initially, it was expected that Alvarez would be out of action till September this year. However, in an interview given to ‘bet365’ last year, he revealed that the surgery was successful and hoped for a much earlier return. “… I’ve been in rehab for two weeks now…My scars have already closed, I’m doing therapy very well, so I don’t think it’s going to stop me that much. My fights are always in May or September. I think I’ll be ready for May again.”

A clear favorite to win the May fight, per available reports, he wishes to pursue the Light Heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol to avenge his last year’s defeat, his second career loss. But, at the same time, given how the 168 lbs. division has opened up, he is receiving divisional challenges, especially from David Benavidez, who has emerged as one of the strongest contenders.

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Which is your favorite Canelo fight? Do let us know your view and opinions in the comments below.